t^cl. 


vx 


american  ComntonttJealt]^^* 


EDITED    BY 


HORACE  E.  SCUDDER. 


o 


American  ConinionUjcaltljjtf 


MARYLAND 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE 


WILLIAM  HAND   BROWNE 


FIFTH   EDITION 


BOSTON 

HOUGHTON,  ]\nT'FLIN  AND   COJIPANY 

New  York  :   11  East  Seventeenth  Street 

1890 


Copyright,  1884, 
By  WILLIAM  HAND  BROWNE. 

All  rights  reserved. 


The  Riverside  Press,  Cambridge ■,  Mass.,  U.  S.  A. 
Electrotyped  and  Printed  by  H.  O.  Houghton  &  Company. 


PREFACE. 


The  most  interesting  and  least  known  pe- 
riod of  Maryland's  history  is  that  which  pre- 
ceded the  War  of  Independence.  The  politi- 
cal and  material  development  of  a  Province 
founded  under  peculiar  circumstances  and  a 
unique  form  of  government,  were  determined 
by  causes  in  many  respects  unlike  those  which 
operated  in  the  other  colonies  ;  and,  so  far  as 
the  State  has,  in  her  later  career,  differed  from 
her  sisters,  this  difference  may,  in  the  main,  be 
traced  back  to  the  original  dissimilarity. 

Though  Maryland  fought  in  the  War  of  In- 
dependence, as  the  faithful  ally  of  her  sister 
States,  no  military  operations  of  any  conse- 
quence took  place  on  her  soil ;  while  to  write 
an  account  of  the  deeds  of  Maryland  soldiers 
in  the  war  would  be  to  write  the  history  of  the 
war  itself. 


vi  PREFACE. 

It  has,  therefore,  seemed  advisable  to  limit 
the  present  volume  to  a  history  of  the  Palat- 
inate government. 

This  narrative  has  been  written,  almost  en- 
tirely, from  the  original  manuscript  records 
and  archives,  now,  by  the  liberal  action  of 
the  General  Assembly,  made  easy  of  access  to 
every  student. 


CONTENTS. 


I. 

CALTERT    AND    AVALON. 

PAGE 

English  colonies.  —  Virginia.  —  George  Calvert,  first 
Lord  Baltimore.  —  Charter  of  Avalon.  —  Discourage- 
ments. —  Baltimore  compelled  to  leave  his  colony.  — 
Subsequent  history  of  Avalon 1 

11. 

CHARTER   AXD    SETTLEMENT   OF   MARYLAND. 

Baltimore  visits  Virginia.  —  His  reception.  —  Grant  of 
Maryland.  —  Baltimore's  death. —  Cecilius,  first  Pro- 
prietary. —  Charter  of  ]Maryland.  —  Opposition  of  Vir- 
ginia. —  The  first  colonists.  —  Friendly  relations  with 
the  Indians 13 


III. 


CLAIBORNE    AND    KENT    ISLAND. 

Animosity  of  Virginia.  —  Claiborne  and  his  station  on 
Kent  Island.  —  Bloodshed  in  ISIaryland  waters.  —  Con- 
firmation of  the  Charter.  —  The  first  Assembly. —  Con- 
ditions of  land  grants.  —  Claiborne's  petition.  —  Kent 
Island  submits.  —  The  second  Assembly  and  its  pro- 
ceedings. —  Trial  of  Smith.  —  Representative  govern- 
ment   o 27 


VUl  CONTENTS. 

IV. 

INVASION    OF    CLAIBOKNK    AND  INGLE.       TOLERATION. 

PAGE 

Increase  of  population.  —  Character  of  settlers.  —  Bap- 
tism of  the  Tayac.  —  Missionaries.  —  Troubles  with 
northern  Indians.  —  Baltimore's  dealings  with  the  Jes- 
uits. —  No  lands  to  be  held  by  a  religious  body. — 
Ingle's  affair.  —  Invasion  of  Claiborne  and  Ingle.  — 
Brigandaj^e.  —  Governor  C;ilvert  regains  the  Province. 

—  Death  of  Leonard  Calvert.  — Mrs.  jMargaret  Brent. 

—  Governor  Stone.  —  Great  Seal  of  Maryland.  —  "  Act 
concerning  Religion."  —  Toleration  in  Maryland      .     .     48 

V. 

MARTLAND    UNDER    THE    PROTECTORATE. 

Reorganization  of  the  Assembly. — Puritans  at  Provi- 
dence. —  Reduction  of  Virginia  and  Maryland.  — Mary- 
laud  under  the  Protectorate.  —  The  Parliamentary 
commissioners.  —  Toleration  with  a  difference.  —  Fight 
at  Providence.  —  Expulsion  of  missionaries. — Witch- 
craft. —  Charter  again  confirmed  and  the  Province 
restored  to  Baltimore.  —  Toleration  Act  of  1649  made 
perpetual "2 

VI. 

THE    DUTCH    ON    THE  DELAWARE. 

Governor  Fendall. —  Quakers  in  Maryland.  —  Fendall's 
Conspiracy.  —  Dutch  and  Swedes  on  the  Delaware.  — 
Mission  of  Herman  and  Waldron.  —  Governor  Philip 
Calvert.  —  Trial  and  condemnation  of  Fendall.  —  Final 
settlement  of  the  government 90 

VII. 

INDIAN    AFFAIRS. 

Governor  Charles  Calvert.  —  Dealings  with  the  Indians. 

—  Election  of  the  Emperor  of  Pascataway.  —  Treaty 


CONTENTS.  IX 

PAGE 

with  Susquehanuoughs.  —  Troubles  with  northern  In- 
dians and  the  Dutch.  —  Boundary-disputes  with  Vir- 
ginia    104 

VIII. 

SPOLIATIONS    OF    MARYLAND    TERRITORY. 

Over-production  of  tobacco.  —  Coinage  for  the  Province. 

—  Effect  of  the  Navigation  Act.  —  Grant  to  the  Duke 
of  York. — Disputes  between  the  Upper  and  Lower 
House.  —  Petition  of  the  Pascataways.  —  Spoliations  of 
Maryland  Territory. — The  charter-boundaries  .     .     .113 

IX. 

PENN  AND  HIS  TACTICS.   THE  ASSOCIATORS. 

Charles,  third  Lord  Baltimore.  —  Attacks  on  the  Charter. 

—  Claiborne  once  more.  —  Proportion  of  Protestants 
to  Catholics.  —  Massacre  of  Susquehannough  chiefs. — 
Conspiracy  of  Fendall  and  Coode.  —  The  Labadists.  — 
William  Penn  and  his  charter.  —  His  grant  on  the 
Delaware.  —  Interview  between  Penn  and  Baltimore.  — 
A  cool  proposition.  —  Decision  of  Privy  Council.  — 
Surveyor-general  Talbot.  —  ^lurder  of  Kousby.  —  Ar- 
rest and  escape  of  Talbot.  —  Discontent  in  the  Prov- 
ince.—  Rebellion  of  Coode  and  the  "  Associators."  — 
"William  III.  seizes  the  Province.  —  Overthrow  of  the 
Proprietary  government 127 

X. 

MARYLAND    SOCIETY    IN    THE    SEVENTEENTH    CENTURY. 

A  people  of  planters.  —  Absence  of  towns.  —  The  Ches- 
apeake Bay. —  Personal  freedom.  —  A  land  of  plenty. 

—  A  society  of  families.  —  Hospitalit}'.  —  Alsop  and 
his  "  Character  of  Mary-Land." —  Cook  and  his  "  Sot- 
weed  Factor."  —  Gentleness  and  humanity  of  the  peo- 


X  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

pie.  —  The  manorial  courts.  —  Negro  slavery.  —  The 
rcdemptioners.  —  The  convicts.  —  The  rangers    .    .     .157 

XI. 

ROYAL   GOVERN3IENT. 

An  established  Church.  —  Three  forms  of  toleration.— 
Governor  Nicholson.  —  Capital  removed  to  Annapolis. 

—  Coode's  plot.  —  Free  schools  founded.  —  Commis- 
sary Bray.  —  Position  of  the  Church.  —  Crown  requisi- 
tions. —  Quakers  in  ^Maryland.  —  ()ppre?sion  of  Roman 
Catholics.  —  Benedict  Leonard,  third  Proprietary,  be- 
comes a  Protestant.  —  Charles,  fourth  Proprietary. — 
Restoration  of  the  Proprietary  government 184 

XII. 

CHANGED  RELATIONS  OF  THE  PROVINCE.   BORDER  WAR- 
FARE. 

Attitude  towards  the  Proprietary  Government.  —  The  col- 
onists define  their  position  towards  England.  —  Disputes 
between  the  Houses  of  Assembly. — Jacobite  prisoners. 

—  Baltimore  founded. — Disputes  about  northern  boun- 
dary. —  Border  warfare.  —  Population  and  Trade  of 
Maryland. — Frederick,  fifth  Proprietary 203 

XIII. 

THE    FRENCH    WAR. 

Designs  of  the  French.  — Fort  Du  Quesne.  — French  and 
Indian  "War.  —  Fort  Cumberland.  —  The  Assembly  and 
the  Supply  question.  —  Braddock's  defeat.  —  Governor 
Sharpe.  —  Ravages  in  the  western  settlements.  —  Ob- 
stinacy of  the  Delegates.  —  Acadian  Exiles.  —  Fort 
Frederick.  —  Sharpe  and  the  Assembly.  —  Attitude  of 
the  Lower  House.  —  Northern  boundary  fixed.  —  Mason 
and  Dixon's  line ,     .     .     .     .  218 


CONTENTS.  XI 

XIV. 

THE    STAMP  ACT   AND   THE   CONGRESS. 

FAGS 

England's  colonial  policy.  —  The  Stamp  Act  in  Mary- 
land. —  A  colonial  Congress  proposed.  —  A  Bill  of 
Rights. — Delegates  to  the  Congress. — liepeal  of  the 
Stamp  Act.  —  Townshend's  duties. — The  Assembly 
and  the  Massachusetts  letter.  —  Petition  to  the  King.  — 
Non-importation  Associations 240 

XV. 

THE    CONVENTION. 

Governor  Eden.  —  The  tea-duty.  —  The  Convention  or- 
ganized. —  Burning  of  the  Peggy  Stewart.  —  The  tobac- 
co-duty. —  The  fee-bill.  —  Provision  for  the  clergy.  — 
Eden's  proclamation.  —  Popular  irritation.  —  Dulany 
and   Carroll.  —  Death  of    Frederick,  Lord  Baltimore. 

—  Henry  Harford,  sixth  and  last  Proprietary.  —  Rev- 
olutionary spirit.  — The  Province  arming.  — The  Dec- 
laration and  Pledge.  —  The  Convention  and  Council  of 
Safety 258 

XVI. 

THE   PROVINCE    BECOMES    A    STATE. 

Eden  leaves  the  Province.  —  The  Convention  supreme. 

—  Its  attitude  and  action.  —  Maryland  declares  her 
independence.  —  A  free  and  sovereign  State.  —  The 
state  government.  —  Sequestration  of  the  Proprietary's 
lands.  —  Abolition  of  quit-rents.  —  Maryland  enters  the 
Confederation 276 


MARYLAlSi  D : 

THE   HISTORY   OF  A  PALATINATE. 


CHAPTER  I. 
CALVERT   AND   AVALON. 

With  the  plantation  of  Maryland  begins  the 
third  stage  of  English  colonisation  in  America. 
The  first  adventurers,  the  Spaniards,  found  or- 
ganised kmgdoms,  an  advanced  civilisation, 
populous  cities,  and  broad  highways.  They 
could  march  in  a  compact  phalanx  to  the  capi- 
tals of  Mexico  and  Peru,  and  strike  them  at 
the  very  heart.  When  once  the  military 
strength  of  the  natives  was  broken,  their  com- 
plete subjugation  was  easy.  The  conquerors 
also  found  abundant  gold  and  silver,  and  poured 
what  seemed  an  inexhaustible  stream  of  the 
precious  metals  into  the  coffers  of  Spain.  The 
results  of  Spanish  conquest,  however  we  may 
now  regard  them,  were  dazzling  successes  to 
the  Europe  of  the  sixteenth  century  ;  and  the 
first  attempts  of  England  to  rival  her  ancient 
foe  were  imitations  of  the  Spanish  adventures. 


2  MARYLAND: 

The  general  plan  of  Ralegh,  Gilbert,  and  Lane 
was  to  plant  armed  colonies  in  the  midst  of  a 
conquered  people,  as  a  basis  for  working  the 
gold  mines  and  pearl  fisheries  to  be  afterwards 
discovered.  It  is  just  possible  that  these  at- 
tempts might  have  succeeded  in  the  miserable 
sense  in  which  the  Spanish  conquest  was  a  suc- 
cess, but  that  to  the  search  for  gold  was  added 
the  search  for  a  northwest  passage  to  the  In- 
dies, by  which  English  ships  might  turn  the  flank 
of  Spain  and  Portugal,  whose  fleets  held  the  key 
of  the  East  after  the  Turks  had  closed  the  gate 
of  Constantinople.  This  gave  the  English  voy- 
ages of  discovery  a  northern  course,  and  landed 
the  adventurers  in  regions  where  there  was  no 
gold,  and  among  scattered  savage  tribes  of  hunt- 
ers and  fishers  of  whom  no  profitable  conquest 
could  be  made.  The  first  attempts  at  colonisa- 
tion, therefore,  resulted  in  failures  more  or  less 
disastrous  ;  but  they  added  to  the  knowledge  of 
the  country  and  its  resources,  and  thus  prepared 
the  way  for  experiments  on  a  more  rational 
plan. 

The  second  stage  was  that  of  chartered  com- 
panies, who  proposed  to  plant  colonies  and 
manage  them  on  the  joint-stock  principle. 
These  were  chiefly  promoted  by  merchants,  and 
commercial  ideas  were  predominant  in  their 
plans  and  administration.     They  were   to   be 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  6 

self-supporting  trading  outposts  of  England ; 
they  were  to  buy  peltries,  catch  fish,  or  raise 
tobacco  to  be  sent  to  England  ;  the  direct  profit 
to  the  stockholders  being  the  first  thing  con- 
sidered, and  the  indirect  profit  to  English  com- 
merce, the  second.  The  idea  of  a  colony  as  a 
part  of  England  beyond  the  ocean,  whose  inter- 
ests were  as  well  worth  caring  for  as  if  it  were 
ringed  within  the  four  seas,  was  as  much  be- 
yond the  horizon  in  the  days  of  James  as  in 
those  of  George  III. 

The  stories  of  these  commercial  colonies  are 
no  part  of  our  subject.  The  radical  faults  of  the 
system  were :  first,  that  they  were  administered 
for  England's  benefit  and  not  for  their  own  ; 
second,  that  most  of  the  stock  was  held  by  per- 
sons whose  interest  in  the  colony  was  limited  to 
the  receipt  of  dividends ;  third,  that  between 
the  companies'  councils  and  the  provincial  As- 
semblies the  administration  was  divided  and 
inconsistent. 

From  these  and  other  causes,  Virginia,  after 
a  career  of  disasters  checkered  with  gleams  of 
prosperity,  had  fallen  into  such  a  state  of  em- 
broilment that  the  legal  advisers  of  the  crown 
declared  the  charter  a  failure,  and  recommended 
that  the  King  should  take  the  government  into 
his  own  hands.  On  the  24th  of  July,  1624,  the 
company's  patent  was  formally  revoked  by  a 


4  MARYLAND: 

judicial  decision,  and  all  the  rights  conveyed 
by  it  reverted  to  the  crown. 

The  next  plan  tried  was  that  of  a  proprietary 
government.  An  individual  received  a  grant 
of  land  with  necessary  legislative  and  execu- 
tive powers,  and  he  undertook  to  settle  and  ad- 
minister a  colony  as  his  private  estate,  under 
the  sovereignty  of  the  crown.  His  own  for- 
tune was  dependent  upon  the  prosperity  of  his 
colony,  which  thus  was  an  end  in  itself,  and  not 
merely  the  means  toward  an  end.  One  of  the 
earliest  of  the  proprietaries,  Sir  George  Calvert, 
brought  to  his  task  patience,  constancy,  and  a 
clear  practical  view  of  the  needs  and  risks  of 
colonisation  in  America  ;  and  though  his  first 
attempt  was  a  failure,  that  failure  showed  him 
how  to  lay  the  foundation  of  the  first  English 
colony  that  was  successful  from  the  start. 

Calvert  was  born  in  1582,  his  father,  Leonard 
Calvert,  being  a  Yorkshire  gentleman  of  Flem- 
ish descent,  and  his  mother,  Alicia  Crossland  ; 
and  it  may  be  that  to  this  tempering  of  Flem- 
ish constanc}'-  with  Yorkshire  shrewdness,  the 
family  partly  owed  their  success  in  life.  After 
receiving  a  liberal  education  at  Oxford,  he 
travelled  on  the  Continent,  and  on  his  return 
married  Alice  Wynne,  granddaughter  of  Sir 
Thomas  Wroth,  Queen  Elizabeth's  commis- 
sioner to  Ireland  —  an  ofiice  which  Calvert  afc 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  5 

terwards  held  —  and  cousin  of  Sir  Robert 
Wroth,  the  friend  of  Ben  Jonson.  Soon  after 
his  return,  Calvert  was  employed  in  public 
service,  where  his  abilities  attracted  the  atten- 
tion of  Sir  Robert  Cecil,  who  rapidly  advanced 
his  fortunes.  In  1617  he  was  knighted,  and 
about  a  year  afterwards  appointed  principal 
Secretary  of  State  to  James  I.,  who  gave  him  a 
large  grant  of  land  in  Ireland. 

He  seems  at  an  early  date  to  have  taken  in- 
terest in  the  plans  for  American  colonisation, 
for,  besides  being  one  of  the  councillors  of  the 
New  England  Company,  in  1609  he  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Virginia  Company,  and  so  continued 
until  the  i-evocation  of  its  charter,  when  he  was 
appointed  one  of  the  Provisional  Council  for 
the  government  of  that  colony.  It  is  not  un- 
likely that  his  knowledge  of  the  defects  in  the 
administration  of  Virginia,  with  the  insight  he 
thus  acquired  into  American  affairs,  disposed 
him  to  make  a  venture  at  colonisation  on  a  dif- 
ferent plan. 

In  1620  he  bought  from  Sir  William  Vaughan, 
who  had  a  patent  for  part  of  Newfoundland, 
his  rights  over  the  southeastern  peninsula  of 
that  island  ;  and  the  next  year  sent  over  a 
body  of  colonists  with  a  large  sum  of  money,  in 
two  ships,  one  of  which,  the  Ark,  afterwards 
carried  the  first  settlers  to  Maryland. 


6  MARYLAND: 

In  his  choice  of  a  site  he  was  probably  influ- 
enced by  the  stories  of  Captain  Richard  Whit- 
bourne,  who  had  often  visited  the  country,  and 
whose  "Relation  of  the  New-found-land"  Cal- 
vert helped  to  circulate  for  the  encouragement 
of  colonists.  If  he  built  his  expectations  on  the 
glowing  accounts  of  Whitbourne,  his  disap- 
pointment must  have  been  sharp.  Whitbourne 
pictures  the  island  as  almost  an  earthly  para- 
dise :  the  land  produced  fruits  in  abundance 
without  the  aid  of  man  ;  the  waters  swarmed 
with  fish ;  the  woods  were  vocal  with  song-birds, 
"■fiUadies,  nightingales,  and  such  like,  that  sing 
most  pleasantly  ;  "  even  the  beasts  of  prey  were 
milder-mannered  and  more  benevolent  in  char- 
acter that  those  of  less  gentle  climes.  As  to 
the  cold  of  winter,  it  was  a  mere  trifle;  the 
winters  in  England  were  often  colder.  The  old 
lures,  gold  mines  and  the  northwest  passage, 
are  again  thrown  out  in  a  careless  fashion  ;  and 
he  even  holds  out  a  prospect  of  mermaids, 
though  whether  these  were  to  be  reckoned 
among  the  commercial  or  picturesque  attrac- 
tions of  the  island  is  not  precisely  expressed. 
The  author  writes  with  a  bluff  old-sailor-like 
frankness  befitting  the  hardy  Devonshire  skip- 
per who  had  commanded  his  own  ship  in  fight- 
ing the  Spanish  Armada. 

For  some  time  nothing  occurred  to  undeceive 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A   PALATINATE.  7 

Calvert ;  the  reports  sent  from  liis  colony  were 
encouraging,  and  he  was  liberal  in  his  supplies 
of  mone}'.  He  applied  for  a  patent,  and  in 
December,  1622,  all  Newfoundland  was  granted 
to  him.  Either  this  was  more  than  he  wanted, 
or  there  was  some  mistake  about  the  grant,  for 
in  the  following  March  a  re-grant  was  issued, 
conveying  to  him  the  southeastern  peninsula 
before  mentioned,  to  which,  in  commemoration 
of  the  spot  to  which  a  pious  tradition  assigned 
the  first  preaching  of  Christianity  in  Britain, 
he  gave  the  name  of  Avalon. 

The  charter  of  Avalon  differed  but  slightly 
from  that  of  ]\Iaryland,  for  which  it  evidently 
served  as  a  model.  It  sets  out  with  a  declara- 
tion of  the  zeal  of  the  grantee  for  the  exten- 
sion of  the  Christian  religion,  as  well  as  the  en- 
largement of  the  King's  dominions.  This  was 
the  usual  phrase  of  charters,  a  religious  being 
put  before  a  worldly  motive,  as  the  Cornish 
miners,  when  they  begin  to  bore,  declare  that 
it  is  "for  the  grace  of  Gocl,  and  what  they 
there  may  find."  The  pioneer  of  the  New 
World  held  out  as  parallel  advantages  a  route 
for  devotion  to  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  and  for 
commerce  to  Cathay,  no  doubt  enlarging  chiefly 
on  the  former  motive  to  Isabela  the  Catholic, 
and  on  the  latter  to  Ferdinand  the  Prudent. 

English  goods  might  be  exported  to  Avalon 


8  MARYLAND: 

duty-free,  and  goods  arriving  from  Avalon  at 
English  ports  were  free  of  duty  for  ten  years. 
Avalon,  moreover,  was  to  be  held  iti  capita  by 
knight's  service,  probably  the  latest  instance  of 
that  tenure  on  record. 

In  the  same  year,  1623,  the  negotiations  for 
the  Spanish  marriage  of  Prince  Charles  were 
broken  off,  and  Calvert,  who  had  strongly 
favored  that  policy,  found  himself  on  the  un- 
popular side.  Instead  of  veering,  as  did  some 
of  his  colleagues,  with  the  changed  policy  of 
the  Duke  of  Buckingham  and  the  court,  he 
took  a  step  which  barred  the  way  to  future  po- 
litical advancement,  declaring  that  he  had  be- 
come a  convert  to  the  faith  of  Rome,  and  at 
the  same  time  resigning  his  office  of  Secretary 
of  State. 

James  could  not  reasonably  be  offended  witli 
a  declaration  so  obviously  conscientious,  and 
he  tried  to  induce  Calvert  to  retain  his  office. 
Failing  in  this,  he  kept  him  in  his  place  in  the 
Privy  Council,  and  raised  him  to  the  Irish  peer- 
age as  Baron  Baltimore,  of  Baltimore,  in  the 
county  of  Longford. 

On  the  death  of  James,  in  1625,  Lord  Balti- 
more retired  from  the  Council,  much  against 
the  wishes  of  Charles,  who  even  offered  to  dis- 
pense with  the  oath  of  supremacy  in  his  case. 

In   1627   Baltimore    visited   his   young  col* 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  9 

ony  from  necessity,  it  seems,  rather  than  from 
choice ;  for  we  find  him  writing  to  Sir  Thomas 
Wentworth,  just  before  he  sailed  :  "  I  must 
either  go  and  settle  it  in  better  order,  or  else 
give  it  over,  and  lose  all  the  charges  I  have 
been  at  hitherto,  for  other  men  to  build  their 
fortunes  upon.  And  I  had  rather  be  esteemed 
a  fool  by  some,  for  the  hazard  of  one  month's 
journey,  than  to  prove  myself  one  certainly  for 
six  years  by-past,  if  the  business  be  now  lost 
for  the  want  of  a  little  pains  and  care."  It, 
however,  may  well  be  that  the  weary  statesman, 
in  broken  health,  looked  to  find  in  the  New 
World  a  peaceful  haven  from  the  storms  that 
were  gathering  in  England. 

In  the  following  year  he  removed  to  Avalon 
with  his  wife  and  family,  except  his  eldest  son 
Cecilius,  and  about  forty  more,  raising  his  lit- 
tle colony  to  about  a  hundred  souls.  Here  he 
soon  found  that  he  had  troubles  before  him 
that  he  had  not  bargained  for.  In  August,  he 
writes  to  the  Duke  of  Buckingham,  "  I  came  to 
build,  and  settle,  and  sow,  and  I  am  fallen  to 
fighting  Frenchmen." 

The  facts  of  tlie  affair,  as  he  gives  them  in 
letters  to  the  King  and  Duke,  were  these :  The 
French  Admiral  De  la  Rade,  with  three  ships 
and  about  four  hundred  men,  sailed  into  the 
harbor  within  a  league  of  Baltimore's  house, 


10  MARYLAND: 

surprised  the  fishermen,  and  took  two  English 
vessels  that  were  loading  there.  Baltimore 
sent  out  two  ships  of  his  own  to  attack  them, 
on  which  the  French  put  to  sea,  and  being  the 
swifter  sailers,  escaped,  leaving  behind  their 
prizes,  plunder,  and  sixty-seven  men  on  land 
who  were  taken  prisoners.  A  few  days  later 
the  Frenchman  made  a  descent  upon  Concep- 
tion Bay,  and  did  more  mischief ;  whereupon 
Baltimore  again  sent  out  his  ships,  which 
missed  the  Admiral,  but  took  six  French  ves- 
sels in  Trepasse  Harbor,  and  these  were  sent 
as  prizes  to  England,  Baltimore's  ships  acting 
as  convoy  to  the  whole  merchant  fleet.  In  the 
same  letter  he  asks  for  two  men-of-war  to  pro- 
tect the  colony  ;  and  this  request  was  further 
urged  by  his  son  Leonard,  who  returned  to 
England.  In  December,  the  Sainte  Claude,  one 
of  the  prizes,  was  lent  to  Baltimore  for  a  year. 

But  the  Proprietary  had  foes  within  his  col- 
ony, as  well  as  foes  without.  A  Puritan  di- 
vine, Stourton  by  name,  went  from  Avalon  to 
England  and  reported  to  the  mayor  of  Plym- 
outh that  Lord  Baltimore  had  brought  PojDish 
priests  into  the  colony  who  celebrated  mass 
every  Sunday ;  a  piece  of  news  which  so  horri- 
fied the  magistrates  that  they  sent  the  informer 
to  tell  his  tale  to  the  Privy  Council,  beyond 
which  we  hear  no  more  of  it. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  11 

The  colony's  worst  foe,  however,  was  neither 
the  plundering  Frenchman  nor  the  delating 
Puritan,  but  the  inhospitable  climate.  The 
reports  which  had  been  sent  him  had  been,  like 
Whitbourne's  yarns,  too  highly  colored.  Iso- 
thermal lines  were  not  known  at  that  time,  and 
Baltimore  could  hardly  have  imagined  that  a 
country  might  have  the  latitude  of  Poitou  and 
the  climate  of  northern  Norway.  In  a  letter  to 
the  King  he  admits  that  he  has  been  deceived, 
and,  except  as  a  fishing-station,  his  colony  is  a 
failure.  Land  and  sea  are  frozen  hard  from 
mid-October  to  mid-May,  in  a  cold  so  great  as 
hardly  to  be  endured.  Half  his  colonists  have 
been  sick,  besides  himself,  nine  or  ten  dying, 
and  his  house  has  been  a  hospital  all  the  win- 
ter. With  all  this  his  zeal  for  colonisation  has 
not  abated,  and  he  solicits  of  the  King  some 
tract  of  land  in  Virginia.  The  King,  in  reply, 
assures  him  of  his  friendly  regard  and  sym- 
pathy, but  advises  him  to  give  up  the  idea  of 
founding  a  colony,  and  come  back  to  England. 

The  rest  of  the  story  of  Avalon  may  as  well 
be  told  here.  Calvert's  fortune  was  not  only 
seriously  impaired, — he  had  spent  over  X 30,000, 
an  immense  sum  in  those  days,  on  his  colony,  — 
but  his  health  had  been  fatally  undermined. 
After  his  death,  his  son  Cecilius  sent  out  Cap- 
tain Hill  as  governor,  and  the  fishery  seems  to 


12  MARYLAND: 

liave  been  carried  on  with  some  success.  In 
November,  1637,  Sir  David  Kirke,  upon  a  rep- 
resentation that  Baltimore  bad  entirely  aban- 
doned his  plantation,  obtained  a  grant  of  the 
whole  island  of  Newfoundland.  At  a  later 
date  the  charge  was  brought  that  this  grant 
had  been  "  surreptitiously  "  obtained  ;  and  it 
looks  as  if  there  had  been  some  underhand 
doings  about  it,  as  in  the  preceding  May  the 
King  had  strictly  charged  the  commissioners 
for  plantations,  councillors,  keepers  of  the  seals, 
and  other  officers  of  the  crown,  to  allow  no 
patent,  commission,  or  warrant  to  pass  which 
might  in  any  way  infringe  Baltimore's  rights 
in  Avalon  and  Maryland,  and  engaging  his 
royal  word  never  to  permit  any  quo  warranto 
or  other  proceedings  for  infringing  or  over- 
throwing either  of  those  patents. 

Kirke,  however,  took  possession,  thinking 
perhaps  that  the  King  was  too  much  occupied 
just  then  with  Hampden,  Prynne,  and  the 
Court  of  High  Commission  to  lieed  what  was 
going  on  in  that  corner  of  the  world.  He 
seems  to  have  carried  matters  with  a  high 
hand,  as  complaints  were  sent  home,  from  time 
to  time,  of  his  tyrannous  and  unlawful  doings. 
The  evil  which  he  did  seems  to  have  lived  after 
him,  for  in  1668  a  writer,  reporting  the  state  of 
the  island,  ascribes  the  depravity  of  the  fisher- 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  13 

men  in  great  part  to  the  fact  that  Sir  David 
Kirke  had  "introduced  taverns  and  tippling- 
houses  to  his  own  advantage,  which  debauched 
the  seamen." 

In  1655,  Kirke  made  over  part  of  his  interest 
in  the  island  to  Jolm  Chiypole,  Cromveell's  son- 
in-law,  and  others ;  and,  in  1660,  Lewis  Kirke 
tried  to  get  his  brother's  grant  confirmed. 
Baltimore  protested,  and  the  matter  was  heard 
before  commissioners,  who  reported  in  Balti- 
more's favor,  upon  which  the  King  ordered 
the  Kirkes  to  surrender  Avalon.  The  order 
was  disobeyed,  nor  was  any  compensation  made 
to  Baltimore  for  the  unlawful  detention  of  his 
property  for  so  many  years  ;  so  upon  David 
Kirke's  coming  into  England,  Baltimore  brought 
suit  against  him,  and  obtained  a  judgment, 
failing  to  satisfy  which,  Kirke  was  cast  into 
prison,  where  he  died.  The  brothers,  however, 
still  retained  their  grip  of  Avalon  until  1663, 
when  the  King  ordered  that  the  province  should 
be  delivered  to  Swanley,  Baltimore's  lieutenant 
or  governor.  Swanley  seems  to  have  governed 
the  province  fairly  well ;  at  least  a  report  on 
Newfoundland,  in  1668,  which  represents  the 
island  as  in  confusion,  and  without  government, 
expressly  excepts  the  province  of  Avalon. 

From  this  date  we  lose  sight  of  Avalon  as  a 
distinct  government,  though  it  had  its  full  share 


14  MARYLAND. 

of  the  French  troubles  in  the  following  century. 
The  Proprietaries,  occupied  with  the  interests 
of  Maryland,  apparently  neglected  it.  In  1754, 
Frederick,  sixth  and  last  Lord  Baltimore,  re- 
vived his  claim,  and  tried  to  have  it  confirmed ; 
but  this  was  denied,  on  the  ground  that  the 
proprietary  rights  had  lapsed  from  long  disuse  ; 
and  Avalon,  as  a  province,  ceased  to  exist, 
though  the  peninsula  still  retains  its  ancient 
name. 


CHAPTER  II. 

CHARTER   AND    SETTLEMENT    OF    MARYLAND. 

We  now  revert  to  Lord  Baltimore.  Before 
the  King's  letter  advising  him  to  return  to  Eng- 
land had  been  written,  he  was  already  on  his 
way  to  Virginia  with  his  wife  and  family  and 
some  forty  of  his  colonists,  and  arrived  at  James- 
town, October  1, 1629.  Some  intimation  of  his 
designs  had  preceded  him,  and  the  Virginians 
gave  him  a  reception  by  no  means  cordial.  On 
his  landing  he  was  met  by  Governor  Pott  and 
his  Council,  —  among  the  rest,  William  Clai- 
borne, of  whom  we  shall  hear  more,  —  who 
tendered  hira  the  oaths  of  supremacy  and  alle- 
giance. This  was  rather  a  cool  proposition  to 
one  who  had  so  recently  held  high  office  under 
the  King,  and  been  a  member  of  the  Provisional 
Council  for  the  government  of  Virginia  after 
the  revocation  of  the  charter ;  but  they  cared 
less  for  courtesy  than  for  forcing  Calvert  away. 
The  oath  of  allegiance  he  might  have  taken, 
but  the  oath  of  supremacy,  requiring  the  party 
to  swear  that  he  believed  the  King  to  be  "  the 
only  supreme  governor  in  his  realm  and  do- 
minions, in  all  spiritual  or  ecclesiastical  things 


16  MARYLAND: 

or  causes,"  was  an  invention  of  Elizabeth's 
time,  intended  as  a  safeguard  of  the  sovereign 
against  such  persons  as  were  suspected  of  trea- 
sonable designs,  and  was  to  be  administered  only 
by  officers  specially  designated.  Of  course 
Baltimore,  believing  the  Pope  to  be  the  spirit- 
ual head  of  the  Church,  neither  could  nor  would 
take  this  oath.  He  might  very  well  have  chal- 
lenged their  right  to  offer  it,  since  while  it 
is  true  that  the  President  and  Council  of  the 
Virginia  Company  had  been  empowered  to  ad- 
minister this  oath,  no  such  power  was  given  to 
Pott,  or  any  authority  in  the  province  after  the 
company's  dissolution,  and  in  offering  it  they 
incurred  the  penalties  of  a  high  contempt. 

Calvert,  however,  unwilling  to  provoke  ani- 
mosity, offered  to  take  a  modified  form  of  the 
oath,  but  this  they  would  not  accept.  He  was 
even  insulted  and  threatened  with  personal 
violence  by  some  of  the  baser  sort,  and  it  was 
evident  that  he  must  seek  a  site  for  his  colony 
elsewhere,  if  it  was  to  have  a  peaceful  begin- 
ning. After  some  examination  of  the  coast, 
he  returned  to  England,  and  asked  the  King  for 
a  grant  of  territory  south  of  the  James  River. 
The  charter  was  made  out,  when  he  again  met 
with  opposition  from  Virginia ;  Claiborne,  and 
others,  having  gone  to  England  to  obstruct  the 
grant.     To  avoid  all  difficulty,  Baltimore  again 


TEE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  17 

changed  his  plans,  and  asked  for  a  part  of  the 
unsettled  region  north  of  the  Potomac.  This 
was  granted  him,  and  a  charter,  modelled  on 
that  of  Avalon,  was  drawn,  the  new  colony 
receiving  the  name  of  Maryland,  or  Terra 
Mariae,  at  the  King's  request,  in  honor  of 
Queen  Henrietta  Maria,  though  Calvert,  it  is 
said,  had  intended  to  call  it  Crescentia,  pos- 
sibly in  honor  of  the  bold  consul  who,  in  the 
tenth  century,  threw  off  the  Saxon  yoke,  and 
set  Rome  free;  but  more  probably  as  a  name  of 
good  omen  for  its  growth  and  prosperity. 

Before  the  charter  had  passed  the  Great  Seal, 
Baltimore,  whose  health,  lung  weak,  seems  to 
have  been  quite  broken  by  the  rigors  of  the 
Newfoundland  climate,  died,  on  April  15, 1632. 
He  had  risen  from  obscurity  to  places  of  high 
honor  and  trust,  and  to  hereditary  rank ;  he 
had  enjoyed,  without  abusing,  the  confidence 
and  friendship  of  kings;  he  had  adhered  to  his 
political  and  altered  his  religious  opinions,  when 
his  constancy  and  his  change  were  alike  fatal  to 
his  advancement,  and  he  died  leaving  a  name 
without  reproach  from  friend  or  enemy,  and 
which,  if  evil  tongues  of  a  later  day  have  at- 
tempted in  vain  to  sully,  it  is  because  de- 
traction, no  less  than  death,  loves  a  shining 
mark. 

The  grant  of  Maryland  was  now  made  out  to 

2 


18  MARYLAND: 

Calvert's  eldest  son,  Cecilius,  named  in  honor 
of  bis  early  patron  and  friend,  and  bore  the 
date  of  June  20,  1632. 

The  boundaries  of  Maryland,  unlike  those  of 
the  other  colonies,  were  precisely  defined.  Its 
limits  were:  on  the  north,  the  fortieth  parallel 
of  north  latitude  ;  on  the  west  and  southwest, 
a  line  running  south  from  this  parallel  to  the 
farthest  source  of  the  Potomac,  and  thence  by 
the  farther  or  western  bank  of  that  river  to 
Chesapeake  Bay ;  on  the  south  by  a  line  run- 
ning across  the  bay  and  peninsula  to  the  At- 
lantic; and  on  the  east  by  the  ocean  and  the 
Delaware  Bay  and  River.  It  included,  there- 
fore, all  the  present  State  of  Delaware,  a  large 
tract  of  land  now  forming  part  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  another  now  occupied  and  claimed 
by  West  Virginia. 

The  charter  of  Maryland  contained  the  most 
ample  rights  and  privileges  ever  confei'red  by 
a  sovereign  of  England.  It  erected  Maryland 
into  a  palatinate,  equivalent  to  a  principality, 
reserving  only  the  feudal  supremacy  of  the 
crown.  The  Proprietary  was  made  absolute 
lord  of  the  land  and  water  within  his  bound- 
aries, could  erect  towns,  cities,  and  ports,  make 
war  or  peace,  call  the  whole  fighting  popula- 
tion to  arms,  and  declare  martial  law,  levy 
tolls  and  duties,  establish  courts  of  justice,  ap- 


TEE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  19 

point  judges,  magistrates,  and  other  civil  offi- 
cers, execute  tlie  laws,  and  pardon  offenders. 
He  could  erect  manors  with  courts-baron  and 
courts-leet,  and  confer  titles  and  dignities,  so 
that  they  differed  from  those  of  England.  He 
could  make  laws  with  the  assent  of  the  freemen 
of  the  province,  and,  in  cases  of  emergency,  or- 
dinances not  impairing  life,  limb,  or  property, 
without  their  assent.  He  could  found  churches 
and  chapels,  have  them  consecrated  according 
to  the  ecclesiastical  laws  of  England,  and  ap- 
point the  incumbents.  All  this  territory,  with 
these  royal  rights,  '''•jura  regalia,''''  was  to  be 
held  of  the  crown  in  free  socage,^  by  the  de- 
livery of  two  Indian  arrows  yearly  at  the  pal- 
ace of  Windsor,  and  the  fifth  of  all  gold  or 
silver  mined. 

The  colonists  and  their  descendants  were  to 
remain  English  subjects,  free  to  visit  or  leave 
England  without  hindrance  or  tax,  to  hold,  ac- 
quire, or  transfer  landed  or  other  property  in 

1  The  tenure  of  free  socage  differed  from  a  tenure  by 
knight's  service,  in  that  military  service  was  not  a  condition 
of  the  grant,  and  from  a  tenure  in  capite,  that  a  fixed  pay- 
ment was  substituted  for  services  of  uncertain  amount.  In 
Baltimore's  case,  the  payment  of  the  two  arrows  was  all  that 
was  required.  His  tenants  in  Maryland  held  their  lands  of 
him  as  mesne  lord,  also  in  free  socage,  being  discharged  of  all 
services  by  a  yearly  payment,  thence  called  a  quit-rent,  and 
this  rent,  allegiance  to  the  King  as  lord  paramount  and  fealty 
to  the  Proprietary,  were  the  only  conditions  imposed. 


20  MARYLAND: 

England,  and  to  trade  freely  to  England  or 
other  foreign  ports.  They  could  have,  of  course, 
no  representation  in  Parliament,  since  Parlia- 
ment had  no  power  to  make  laws  for  them ; 
but  they  could  accept  or  reject  the  laws  pro- 
posed by  the  Proprietary,  which  laws  were  to 
be  agreeable  to  the  laws  and  statutes  of  Eng- 
land, "  as  far  as  conveniently  might  be."  The 
King  furthermore  bound  himself  and  his  suc- 
cessors to  lay  no  taxes,  customs,  subsidies,  or 
contributions  whatever  upon  the  people  of  the 
province,  and  in  case  of  any  such  demand  being 
made,  the  charter  expressly  declared  that  this 
clause  might  be  pleaded  as  a  discharge  in  full. 

This  charter,  by  which  Maryland  was  virtu- 
ally an  independent  and  self-governed  commu- 
nity, placed  the  destinies  of  the  colonists  in 
their  own  hands.  The  powers  granted  the  Pro- 
prietary might  have  been  oppressive  in  the 
hands  of  a  man  less  wise,  just,  and  humane 
than  Cecilius  Calvert,  who  knew  when  to  yield 
and  when  to  stand  firm.  Though  often  at- 
tacked, and  at  times  held  in  abeyance,  the 
charter  was  never  revoked,  and  was  only  cast 
off  when  the  arbitrary  power  of  England  had 
violated  its  pledges,  and  the  people  of  Mary- 
land, having  outgrown  their  minority,  were 
ready  to  take  the  sovereignty  into  their  own 
hands. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE  21 

This  charter  was,  of  course,  bitterly  resented 
by  the  Virginians.  Part  of  the  members  of 
the  old  company,  who  still  hoped  to  regain 
their  lost  franchise,  protested  against  it  on  the 
grounds  that  it  was  an  invasion  of  their  char- 
tered rights,  and  that  Maryland  might  prove  a 
dangerous  neighbor.  As  their  chartered  rights 
had  now  no  existence,  and  as  it  was  scarcely  to 
be  expected  that  the  crown  would  be  willing 
to  fence  off  each  colony  by  a  neutral  unsettled 
zone,  it  is  probable  that  the  protest  was  merely 
formal.  So  the  Privy  Council  seems  to  have 
considered  it,  for  after  summoning  the  parties 
before  them,  and  hearing  them  fully  on  both 
sides  they  decided  that  Baltimore  must  be  left 
to  his  patent,  and  any  wrongs  done  any  of 
them  could  be  redressed  by  ordinary  process  of 
law. 

Calvert  in  the  mean  time  steadily  pressed 
forward  his  preparations.  He  fitted  out  two 
vessels,  the  Ark,  of  three  hundred  and  fifty 
tons,  which  had  already  carried  his  father's 
first  colonists  to  Avalon,  and  the  Dove,  of 
about  fifty  tons,  and  loaded  them  with  sup- 
plies and  implements,  —  bearing  himself  most 
of  the  cost,  about  X40,000,  of  the  first  emigra- 
tion. The  company  colonists  consisted  of  about 
twenty  gentlemen  and  between  two  and  three 
hundred  laboring  men  and  handicraftsmen  in 


22  MARYLAND: 

their  emploj'^ment.  Considerable  ingenuity  has 
been  spent  in  attempts  to  determine  the  pro- 
portions of  Roman  Catholics  and  Protestants 
among  them,  which  are  nowhere  recorded,  and 
it  seems  probable  that  most  of  the  "  gentlemen 
adventurers,"  as  they  were  called,  were  Catho- 
lics, and  most  of  the  laborers  and  servants  Prot- 
estants.^ Baltimore  did  not  go  out  himself  with 
his  colonists,  his  presence  in  England  being 
necessary  for  the  defense  of  his  charter,  which 
was  attacked  both  openly  and  covertly  ;  but  he 
placed  the  expedition  under  the  command  of  his 
brother  Leonard,  his  younger  brother,  George, 
also  going  out  in  the  company. 

The  Ark  had  already  left  Gravesend,  on  the 
18th  of  October,  when  some  vigilant  person  re- 
ported to  the  Star  Chamber  that  the  crew  had 
not  yet  taken  tlie  oath  of  allegiance.  As  all 
sorts  of  alarming  rumors  had  already  been 
buzzed  about  touching  the  purpose  of  the  voy- 
age, and  among  the  rest  that  it  was  to  carry 
nuns  and  soldiers  to  Spain,  the  Lords  seem  to 
have  thought  it  a  case  for  prompt  action,  and 

1  Watkins,  the  London  "  searcher,"  reports  that  he  went 
on  board  the  Ark  and  Dove,  lying  off  Tilbury,  and  adminis- 
tered the  oath  of  allegiance  to  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight 
emigrants.  If  these  were  all  the  Protestants,  and  the  rest 
who  embarked  at  the  Isle  of  Wight  were  all  Catholics,  it 
would  make  the  Catholics  the  more  numerous,  but  the  infer- 
ence is  very  uncertain. 


TnE   U I  STORY  OF  A   PALATINATE.  23 

Secretary  Coke  hurried  off  an  order  to  Admiral 
Pennington,  then  guarding  the  Straits,  to  stay 
the  ships.  The  original  dispatch  is  indorsed 
with  the  word  "  haste "  ten  times  repeated, 
with  the  additions  of  "  post-haste  "  and  "  all 
speed,"  and  is  noted  on  the  back  as  having 
reached  Bishopsgate  at  twelve,  Dartford  at 
four  P.  M.,  Rochester  at  six  at  night,  and  Sand- 
wich at  three  in  the  morning,  being  forwarded, 
apparentl}^,  by  relays  of  couriers. 

After  further  delays  the  vessels  were  allowed 
to  proceed,  and  on  their  outward  passage  they 
stopped  at  the  Isle  of  Wight,  where  they  took 
on  board  two  Jesuit  fathers,  Andrew  White 
and  John  Altham,  and  a  number  of  other  col- 
onists. They  finally  sailed  for  America  on  No- 
vember 20,  1633.  An  interesting  narrative  of 
the  voyage,  in  Father  White's  quaint  ecclesi- 
astical Latin,  is  still  preserved. 

After  a  violent  storm  at  starting,  the  ships 
reached  Barbadoes  on  January  3d,  and  after 
touching  at  several  of  the  islands,  arrived  at 
Point  Comfort,  in  Virginia,  on  February  27th. 
Here  they  rested  for  eight  or  nine  days,  when 
they  again  sailed  northward  and  reached  the 
Potomac. 

On  an  ishmd  which  they  named  St.  Clement's, 
near  the  mouth  of  the  Potomac,  —  of  which 
to-day  but  a  sand-bank  remains,  —  the  pilgrims 


24  MARYLAND: 

celebrated  their  first  mass  in  the  New  World, 
on  the  feast  of  the  Annunciation,  March  25, 
1634,  which  was  also  New  Year's  Day,  accord- 
ing to  the  reckoning  then  in  use,  and  planted  a 
cross,  in  sign  that  this  was  to  be  henceforth  a 
Christian  land. 

It  was,  in  truth,  a  goodly  land  that  they  had 
come  to,  a  land  of  broad  streams,  of  fertile 
plains,  of  gentle  hills,  and  green  woodlands  ; 
and  the  eyes  of  the  colonists  were  charmed 
with  the  strange  and  beautiful  trees,  the  vines 
loaded  with  grapes,  the  flocks  of  wild  turkeys, 
the  countless  multitudes  of  water-fowl,  the 
bright  new  birds,  —  the  blue  jay,  the  tanager 
glancing  like  a  scarlet  flame,  and  the  oriole, 
dressed  in  the  Maryland  colors  of  gold  and 
black,  and  henceforth  dear  to  Maryland  eyes. 

The  Indians  whom  they  met  were  a  friendly 
and  peaceful  race,  inferior  in  size,  strength,  and 
ferocity  to  the  warlike  Susquehannoughs  and 
Iroquois  tribes  to  the  north,  and  they  received 
the  strangers  most  amicably.  They  had  several 
chiefs,  but  all  acknowledged  the  sovereignty  of 
the  "  Emperor  of  Pascataway,"  who  was  then 
a  minor,  his  uncle  Archihu  being  his  guard- 
ian, and  ruling  the  tribe.  Governor  Leonard 
Calvert  and  his  suite  paid  this  forest  prince 
a  visit,  who  welcomed  them  to  his  dominions, 
and  gave  them  permission  to  settle  where  they 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  25 

would.  Friendly  intercourse  was  soon  estab- 
lished, and  the  natives  crowded  to  gaze  at  the 
ships,  which  they  took  to  be  gigantic  canoes, 
and  were  loud  in  their  wonder  where  such  big 
trees  could  have  grown. 

Guided  by  Henry  Fleete,  a  Virginian,  who 
had  lived  much  among  the  Indians,  and  knew 
the  country,  the  English  sailed  up  the  Potomac 
till  they  found,  at  the  mouth  of  a  small  affluent, 
a  suitable  site,  with  a  good  harbor,  where  they 
proposed  to  fix  their  future  habitation.  The 
land  here  belonged  to  the  king;  or  chief  of  the 
Yaocomicos,  from  whom  they  bought  a  tract 
for  axes,  hoes,  and  cloth,  and  laid  out  the  plan 
of  a  city,  which  they  called  St.  Mary's.  It  so 
happened  that  the  natives  had  been  for  some 
time  past  so  cruelly  harried  by  the  Susquehan- 
nonghs  that  they  had  resolved,  in  desperation, 
to  abandon  their  lands  and  seek  a  safer  home 
elsewhere ;  so  they  readily  gave  up  to  the  Eng- 
lish not  only  the  land,  but  also  part  of  their 
village,  reserving  part  for  themselves  until  they 
should  have  gathered  their  growing  crops.  To 
Father  White  and  his  associates  was  assigned 
a  chief's  cabin  or  hut  of  poles,  which  he  con- 
secrated as  a  church,  and  calls  '-'•  prbnwn  Mary- 
landiae  saeellum  "  —  the  first  chapel  of  Mary- 
land. He  notes  with  pleasure  the  kindly  and 
cheerful  disposition  of  the  natives,  their  temper- 


26  MARYLAND. 

ance  in  eating,  "  living  chiefly  upon  preparations 
of  Indian  corn,  —  quern  pone  et  omini  appel- 
lant^" —  still  familiar  words  to  Maryland  ears  ; 
the  modesty  of  both  men  and  women,  and  their 
gratitude  for  any  act  of  kindness.  "  Surely," 
he  adds,  in  the  benevolence  of  his  heart,  "  God 
hath  some  great  benefit  in  store  for  this  people ;  " 
a  prophecy  which  one  knows  not  whether  to 
consider  fulfilled  or  falsified.  They  vanished, 
one  knows  not  how,  by  painless  extinction,  we 
trust,  and  were  spared  the  experience  of  Indian 
reservations  and  Bureaus. 

Certain  it  is  that  the  relations  with  the 
southern  Indians  were  always  friendly ;  and 
though  the  Susquehannoughs  to  the  north  gave 
trouble  at  times,  so  justly  and  firmly  were  they 
dealt  withal  that  they  joined  with  the  colonists 
in  treaties  of  mutual  assistance  and  defence 
against  the  inroads  of  "  foreign  Indians,"  espe- 
cially the  Senecas,  Cayugas,  and  other  Iroquois 
tribes,  and  were  formally  declared,  in  the  pre- 
amble of  an  Act  for  giving  them  armed  assist- 
ance, "a  Bullwarke  and  security  of  the  north- 
ern parts  of  this  Province." 


CHAPTER  III. 

CLAIBORNE    AND    KENT   ISLAND. 

While  Maryland  was  spared  the  chief  causes 
of  disaster  to  the  other  colonies,  —  Indian  hos- 
tilities and  maladministration,  —  serious  and 
well-nigh  fatal  dangers  arose  in  a  quarter 
whence  she  might  have  looked  for  friendship 
and  help.  The  animosity  of  the  Virginians 
seemed  to  increase  as  the  new  colony  gave 
promise  of  prosperous  growth.  Their  causes 
of  irritation  were  three,  —  two  sentimental  and 
one  commercial.  They  were  exasperated  that 
the  Maryland  charter  covered  land  that  had 
once  been  included  in  their  own,  though  they 
had  neglected  it ;  they  looked  with  distrust  as 
well  as  dislike  on  the  neighborhood  of  what 
they  called  a  popish  settlement ;  and  they  were 
aggrieved  that  the  Marylanders  had  the  privi- 
lege of  trade  in  foreign  markets,  which  was 
denied  to  them. 

Complaints  on  these  scores,  they  plainly  saw, 
would  avail  them  nothing  at  the  time ;  but  if  a 
flaw  could  be  found  in  the  charter,  something, 
they  thought,  might  be  done.  They  had  at- 
tacked the  charter  already,  as  we  have  seen, 


28  MARYLAND: 

before  the  Privy  Council,  and  without  success, 
but  they  did  not  altogether  lose  heart.  Now 
the  Maryland  patent  describes  the  land  granted, 
in  the  usual  phrase  of  such  charters,  as  hactenus 
inculta,  —  hitherto  uncultivated  ;  and  though 
these  words  were  merely  a  description  of  the 
land,  and  not  a  condition  of  the  grant,  they 
thought  that  by  adroit  pleading  a  case  might 
be  made  out  of  Claiborne's  claim  to  Kent 
Island.  As  this  whole  business  of  Claiborne's 
is  even  now  but  imperfectly  understood,  ajid  as 
it  seriously  affected  more  than  twenty  years  of 
Maryland's  history,  it  is  as  well  to  give,  once 
for  all,  the  essential  facts  somewhat  in  detail. 
Baseless  as  the  original  ground  of  quarrel  was, 
it  was  the  misfortune  of  both  colonies  that  Vir- 
ginia had  a  man  to  urge  it  of  extraordinary 
tenacity  of  purpose  and  of  unhesitating  re- 
source ;  who  devoted  the  best  years  of  his  life 
to  hostility  to  Maryland,  and  twice  nearly 
brought  it  to  destruction.  The  trivial  ques- 
tion whether  a  small  and  unprofitable  trading- 
post  should  be  held  mediately  or  immediately 
under  the  King,  served  as  the  rallying-point  for 
all  the  animosities  of  a  generation ;  and  the 
territorial  quarrel  of  Virginia  and  Maryland, 
the  religious  quarrel  of  Puritan  and  Catholic, 
and  the  political  quarrel  of  Royalist  and  Round- 
head, all  gathered  around  the  claim  of  Clai- 
borne. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  29 

"William  Claiborne  was  a  younger  son  of  an 
ancient  Westmoreland  family.  Like  many  other 
younger  sons,  be  thought  bis  fortunes  stood  a 
better  chance  of  advancement  in  the  New  World 
than  in  the  Old,  so  be  applied  for  and  obtained 
the  office  of  survej'or  of  the  Virginia  Colony, 
to  which  he  sailed  in  1621.  His  career  was 
prosperous  ;  he  acquired  a  considerable  landed 
estate,  became  a  member  of  the  Council  after 
the  revocation  of  the  charter,  and  was  ap- 
pointed by  Charles  I.  "  Secretary  of  State  for 
the  Kingdom  of  Virginia." 

He  also  embarked  in  commercial  enterprises. 
One  or  two  trading  expeditions  of  his  to  the 
Indians  met  with  such  success  that  he  induced 
a  firm  of  London  merchants,  Cloberry  and 
Company,  who  were  at  that  time  making  many 
adventures  to  the  colonies,  to  engage  him  as 
their  agent,  or  special  partner,  to  carry  on  a 
trade  for  furs  with  the  Indians  to  the  north  of 
Virginia. 

To  legalize  this  traffic  he  obtained,  in  1631, 
from  Sir  William  Alexander,  Secretary  of  State 
for  Scotland,  a  royal  license  to  ti-ade  with  New 
England  and  Nova  Scotia,  and  "  to  make  dis- 
coveries for  the  increase  of  trade  in  those 
parts  ;  "  and  in  the  following  year  he  procured 
from  Governor  Harvey  a  license  to  trade  with 
the  Dutch  settlement  at  Manhattan. 


30  MARYLAND: 

A  trading-post  or  station,  more  convenient 
than  James  City  to  the  south,  was  now  needed ; 
and  Claiborne,  by  a  friendly  agreement  with 
the  Susquehannough  Indians,  established  such 
a  station  on  an  island  in  the  Chesapeake  Bay, 
to  which  he  gave  the  name  of  Kent  Island,  in- 
stead of  Winston's  Island,  as  it  had  been  called 
by  the  discoverer,  Captain  Smith.  Here  he 
erected  necessary  buildings,  Cloberry  and  Com- 
pany furnishing  the  capital.  But  he  either  neg- 
lected or  failed  to  obtain  any  grant  of  land 
north  of  the  Potomac. 

By  his  arrangements  with  the  London  mer- 
chants, they  were  to  send  out  men,  both  in- 
dented servants  and  hired  freemen,^  and  wares 
suitable  for  trading  with  the  Indians  for  beaver 
and  for  corn  for  support  of  the  station,  where 
none  seems  to  have  been  grown  ;  and  the  bea- 
ver bought  was  to  be  shipped  to  London  and 
sold. 

Disagreements  soon  arose :  the  merchants 
thought  the  shipments  of  peltries  too  small ; 
while  Claiborne  complained  that  they  did  not 
send  wares  enough,  nor  of  suitable  quality  for 
trade.     At  one  time  the  London  supplies  were 

1  How  mauy  freemen  were  on  the  island  we  do  not  know  ; 
but  they  had  a  burgess  at  one  time  in  the  Virginia  Assembly. 
Claiborne  did  not  himself  reside  on  the  island,  but  at  Ke- 
coughtan  in  Virginia,  being  a  member  of  the  Council. 


THE  II /STORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  31 

stopj)ed  for  more  than  a  year,  and  the  station 
came  very  near  starving,  having  nothing  where- 
with to  buy  corn  from  the  Indians  except  some 
"  great  kettles  "  which  they  would  not  take. 
A  fire  broke  out  and  melted  their  stock  of  beads 
into  an  unmerchantable  lump.  The  company 
were  so  few  and  weak  that  they  could  not  de- 
fend the  post ;  so  that  for  three  or  four  years 
they  were  in  constant  dread  of  being  cut  off  by 
the  Indians.  The  massacre  of  the  Dutch  at 
Zwaanendal  was  a  terrible  warning  to  them ; 
and  at  one  time  they  wei-e  attacked,  and  sev- 
eral killed  and  wounded,  so  that  they  found  it 
necessary  to  build  a  fort. 

Things  on  the  island  were  in  this  unsatisfac- 
tory condition  when  the  Maryland  colonists 
established  themselves  at  St.  Mary's.  In  due 
time  notice  was  given  to  Claiborne  that  Kent 
Island  was  within  the  Timits  of  the  Maryland 
patent ;  and  he  rose  in  his  place  in  the  Virginia 
Council  and  asked  what  he  should  do  in  the 
matter.  The  news  of  the  Privy  Council's  de- 
cision could  not  then  have  reached  Virginia,  for 
they  answered  that  they  saw  no  reason  why 
they  should  render  up  the  Isle  of  Kent  more 
than  any  other  place  formerly  in  their  patent ; 
that  Baltimore's  grant  was  yet  uiidetermmed 
in  England ;  but  that  they  would  "  keep  a 
good  correspondency  "  with  the  Marylanders. 


32  MARYLAND: 

This  good  correspondency  was  not  to  last 
long.  The  Marylanders  suddenly  perceived  a 
change  in  the  Indians,  who  held  aloof  from 
them,  ceased  to  bring  them  provisions,  and  be- 
haved in  all  ways  so  suspiciously,  that  the  set- 
tlers built  a  fort  or  block-house  for  their  de- 
fence, at  the  same  time  trying  to  find  out 
through  their  interpreter,  Henry  Fleete,  what 
the  matter  was.  Fleete  reported  that  Clai- 
borne had  told  the  Indians  that  the  new-com- 
ers at  Yaocomico  were  not  English,  but  "  Wa- 
spaines,"  or  Spaniards,  enemies  of  the  English. 
Little  scrupulous  as  Claiborne  was,  one  hesi- 
tates to  believe  that  he  could  have  plotted  to 
give  up  his  countrymen  to  an  Indian  massacre; 
and  in  justice  it  must  be  recorded  that  the  In- 
dians, when  questioned  in  his  presence,  denied 
the  charge,  and  said  that  it  was  a  lie  of  Fleete's. 
The  matter  was,  of  course,  reported  to  Balti- 
more, who  sent  out  word  that  if  Claiborne  still 
refused  to  acknowledge  his  jurisdiction,  and 
continued  his  hostilities,  he  was  to  be  held  as  a 
prisoner,  and  possession  taken  of  the  island  un- 
til further  instructions.  The  King  at  the  same 
time  wrote  to  Governor  Harvey,  ordering  him 
to  protect  the  Marylanders  from  the  Indians, 
to  allow  free  trade  with  Virginia,  and  assist 
them  in  all  ways.  He  had,  some  time  before, 
commanded  Baltimore  not  to  molest  Claiborne 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  33 

and  bis  people  on  Kent  Island;  but  the  Com- 
missioners for  Plantations  explain  this  action 
by  the  fact  that  the  King  was  erroneously  in- 
formed that  the  island  was  not  within  the 
Maryland  patent. 

Harvey  was  willing  enough  to  befriend  the 
Mary  landers,  but  the  power  to  do  so  was  fast 
failing  him.  A  strong  party,  or  faction  as  he 
calls  it,  had  been  formed  with  the  Puritan  Math- 
ews as  its  head,  and  Claiborne  as  one  of  its 
leading  spirits,  who  thwarted  his  purposes,  de- 
fied his  authority,  and  were  bent  on  driving 
him  from  Virginia.  This  Maryland  business 
played  into  their  hands.  So  bitter  were  the 
feelings  aroused,  that  when  Harvey  spoke  of 
selling  provisions  to  Calvert's  colony,  the  Vir- 
ginians vowed  that  they  would  rather  knock 
their  cattle  on  the  head  than  sell  them  to  Mary- 
land. 

Matters  soon  came  to  a  crisis.  A  pinnace 
belonging  to  the  Kent  Island  station  was  cap- 
tured by  tho  Marylanders  for  trading  in  Mary- 
land waters  without  a  license.  In  reprisal, 
Claiborne  armed  a  shallop,  the  Cockatrice,  and 
manned  it  with  about  thirty  men  under  the  com- 
mand of  Lieutenant  Ratcliffe  Warren,  whom  he 
commissioned  to  seize  any  vessels  belonging  to 
the  government  at  St.  Mary's.  Calvert,  learn- 
ing this,  sent  out  two  pinnaces,  the  St.  Helen 


34  MARYLAND: 

and  St.  Margaret,  duly  armed  and  equipped,  un- 
der the  command  of  Captain  Thomas  Cornwa- 
leys.  The  two  expeditions  met,  on  April  23, 
1635,  in  the  Pocoraoke  River.  Warren's  party 
fired  upon  the  Mary  landers,  killing  one  man  and 
wounding  several.  Cornwaleys  returned  the  fire 
with  such  effect  that  Warren  and  two  others 
were  killed,  and  the  Cockatrice  surrendered. 

On  the  10th  of  May  there  was  another  con- 
flict in  the  harbor  of  Great  Wighcocomoco  (or 
Pocomoke),  in  which  Thomas  Smith  com- 
manded a  vessel  of  Claiborne's,  and  there  seems 
to  have  been  bloodshed  there. 

These  proceedings  in  Maryland  naturally 
created  much  excitement  in  Virginia,  and 
brought  matters  in  the  Council  to  an  explosion. 
A  stormy  scene  ensued,  the  upshot  of  which 
was  that  Harvey  had  to  sail  for  England.  The 
Council,  however,  not  venturing  to  disobey  the 
express  commands  of  the  King,  sent  commission- 
ers to  Maryland  to  restore  at  least  a  temporary 
peace,  and  Baltimore's  authority  seems  to  have 
been  acquiesced  in,  if  not  acknowledged. 

The  incessant  and  frivolous  attacks  upon  the 
charter  also  drew  from  the  King  a  more  em- 
phatic confirmation,  who  in  1637  ordered  the 
Commissioners  of  Plantations  and  all  his  other 
officers  to  let  no  grant  or  commission  pass  which 
should  encroach  on  Baltimore's  rights ;  and  in 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  35 

addition  pledged  his  royal  word  not  to  allow 
any  quo  ivarranto  or  other  proceeding  which 
might  infringe  or  overthrow  the  Maryland 
patent  in  respect  of  any  clause  or  matter  con- 
tained therein.  Thus  the  grantor  having  ex- 
plained his  own  grant,  one  might  have  supposed 
that  all  quibbling  about  haetenus  inculta  was 
put  an  end  to. 

The  colonists  had  no  sooner  settled  them- 
selves pretty  comfortably  in  their  cabins  than, 
with  the  instinct  of  their  race,  they  set  about 
making  laws  to  live  under.  It  is  interesting 
to  see  this  young  plantation  in  the  forests  of 
the  New  World  reviving  the  ancient  customs 
of  their  Teutonic  ancestors  in  the  Old.  The 
Assembly  was  a  true  folc-gemot ;  the  Lieuten- 
ant-General,  who  represented  the  supreme  au- 
thorit}^  who  convoked  assemblies  and  headed 
expeditions,  held  the  place  of  the  ealdormann  ; 
eorl  and  thegn  were  not,  nor  ever  should  be; 
but  ceorl  and  esne  were  represented  by  the  free* 
man  and  the  servant.  The  freeman  was  either 
the  landholder  or  the  free  craftsman :  in  the  first 
Assembly  whose  records  have  been  preserved, 
we  find  "  Francis  Gray,  carpenter,"  "  John 
Halfe-head,  brick-mason,"  and  "  Roger  Oliver, 
mariner,"  taking  seats  beside  the  planters.  The 
unfree  class  was  composed  of  indented  servants, 
who   became   freemen  of   the   Province   when 


6b  MARYLAND: 

their  times  of  service  had  expired.  The  real 
servile  class,  or  theowas,  incapable  of  citizen- 
ship, was  represented  later  by  a  few  Indian  ser- 
vants, either  prisoners  of  war  or  convicts,  and 
by  negroes,  who  were  always  slaves  for  life. 

The  first  Assembly  met  at  St.  Mary's,  on 
February  26,  1634-35,  under  the  presidency 
of  Leonard  Calvert,  and  was  composed,  appar- 
ently, of  all  the  freemen  in  the  colony.  They 
drew  up  a  body  of  laws  which,  with  the  rec- 
ord of  their  proceedings,  has  unfortunately  per- 
ished,^  and  sent  it  off  to  the  Proprietary  for  his 
assent.  This  was  refused,  doubtless  for  the  rea- 
son that  the  charter  gave  the  Proprietary  the 
power  of  making  laws  with  the  assent  of  the 
freemen,  and  not  the  freemen  with  the  assent 
of  the  Proprietary,  so  for  the  two  years  follow- 
ing the  Province  remained  under  the  common 
law  of  England. 

Baltimore  now  sent  out  instructions  to  his 
brother  how,  and  on  what  conditions,  lands  were 
to  be  allotted  to  settlers.  Any  colonist  of  the 
first  immigration,  who  had  brought  over  five 
men,  received  two  thousand  acres  of  land,  sub- 
ject to  an  annual  quit-rent  of  400  lbs.  of  wheat; 
one  who  came  between  1034-35,  bringing  over 
ten  men,  had  the  same  allotment  of  land  at  a 

1  We  only  know  that  one  of  their  laws  provided  that  mur* 
ders  and  felonies  should  be  punished  as  in  England. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  37 

rent  of  600  lbs.,  and  proportionately  for  those 
who  came  later,  or  brought  fewer  men  ;  the 
highest  rate  being  20s.  per  thousand  acres. 
Plantations  of  a  thousand  acres  or  more  were 
erected  into  manors,  carrying  the  right  of  hold- 
ing courts-baron  and  courts-leet. 

While  the  charter  gave  the  Proprietary  the 
power  of  conferring  dignities,  and  consequently 
of  creating  a  provincial  peerage  or  aristocracy, 
perhaps  from  prudential  motives  he  refrained 
from  exercising  it.  At  the  same  time  the 
conditions  of  plantation  provided  for  a  class  of 
great  landholders  with  judicial  and  other  rights, 
and  at  first  there  was  some  disposition  to  make 
these  a  privileged  class.  In  the  session  of  1637- 
39  a  bill  was  introduced  providing  that  lords  of 
manors  could  only  be  tried  by  a  jury  of  their 
own  class,  if  so  many  could  be  obtained,  and 
the  lord  of  a  manor,  if  condemned  to  death, 
was  to  be  executed  by  beheading  instead  of 
hanging ;  but  this  bill  never  passed  to  a  third 
reading. 

In  the  mean  time,  Claiborne's  affairs  had 
passed  into  a  new  phase.  The-  London  mer- 
chants, Cloberry  and  Company,  apparently  thor- 
oughly dissatisfied  with  his  management,  sent 
out  George  Evelin  as  their  attorney,  with  full 
powers  to  take  the  station  and  all  the  property 
of  the  concern  into  his  hands.     Claiborne  made 


38  MARYLAND: 

no  opposition,  merely  asking  Evelin  to  bind 
himself  not  to  hand  over  the  island  to  the 
Marylanders  ;  but  Evelin  refused  to  make  any 
stipulation,  and  Claiborne  surrendered  every- 
thing to  him  and  sailed  for  England,  where  he 
was  sued  by  Cloberry  and  Company,  and  a  trial 
followed,  with  which  this  narrative  is  not  con- 
cerned.^ Evelin  then  went  to  Virginia,  and  on 
the  strength  of  his  powers  of  attorney  attached 
all  the  goods  of  Claiborne  at  James  City  and 
at  Kecoughtan,  his  residence,  in  the  name  of 
his  principals,  Governor  Harvey,  we  may  be 
sure,  making  no  objection.  The  London  mer- 
chants admitted  Baltimore's  jurisdiction  over 
the  island,  and  sued  out  warrants  in  his  courts 
against  variovis  debtors  there. 

By  this  time  Claiborne  seems  to  have  grown 
thoroughly  disgusted  and  disheartened  at  the 
turn  his  Maryland  affairs  had  taken.  Recog- 
nizing the  legal  strength  of  Baltimore's  posi- 
tion, and  seeing  that  it  was  better  to  hold  land 
under  the  charter  of  Maryland  than  in  charter- 
less  Virginia,  he  might  perhaps  have  acknowl- 
edged the  Proprietary's  territorial  rights  ;  but 
his  London  principals  had  displaced  him  from 
his  position  and  seized  the  property  on  the  isl- 

1  He  was  also  held  to  answer  before  the  Commissioners  of 
Plantations  on  a  charge  of  mutiny  preferred  by  Governor 
Harvey. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  39 

and,  and  there  was  nothing  for  him  to  do  but 
to  go  elsewhere.  But  he  still  cherished  his 
schemes  of  trade,  and  in  this  year  we  find  him 
purchasing  from  the  Indians  Palmer's  Island 
(now  Watson's  Island),  at  the  head  of  the  bay, 
erroneously  thinking  it  to  be  outside  the  limits 
of  the  Maryland  patent. 

He  also  petitioned  the  King  that  Baltimore 
might  be  restrained  from  interfering  with  his 
trade,  and  further,  that  the  crown  would  grant 
him  a  tract  of  land  extending  in  breadth  for 
twelve  leagues  on  each  side  the  Susquehannah 
River,  and  in  length,  "  from  the  mouth  of  said 
river  down  the  said  bay  southerly  to  the  sea- 
ward, and  so  to  the  head  of  the  said  river  and 
to  the  Grand  Lake  of  Canada,"  to  be  held  of 
the  crown  at  a  rent  of  X50  per  annum.  This 
preposterous  demand,  which  would  have  not 
only  given  him  about  three  fourths  of  Mar}^- 
land,  and  the  whole  of  the  Chesapeake  Bay, 
but  would,  if  Indian  tomahawks  had  permit- 
ted, have  cut  the  crown's  possessions  in  two 
by  a  cordon  of  trading- posts  eight  hundred 
miles  long,  was  referred  by  the  King  to  the 
Commissioners  for  Plantations,  who  seem  not 
fo  have  thought  it  worth  an  answer.  As  Clai- 
borne admitted  that  Kent  Island  was  within 
the  Maryland  patent,  and  as,  upon  examination, 
his  so-called  commission  proved  to  be  only  a 


40  MARYLAND: 

license,  under  the  Scotch  signet,  to  trade  with 
the  Indians,  giving  him  no  title  to  land,  nor 
even  to  make  a  settlement,  the  Commission- 
ers once  more  referred  him  to  the  ordinary 
course  of  justice  in  respect  of  the  wrongs  com- 
plained of. 

Down  to  this  time  Evelin  had  heard  only 
the  Virginian  side  of  the  story ;  but  now  he 
visited  St.  Mary's,  and  was  there  shown  the 
Maryland  patent  and  the  text  of  Claiborne's 
licenses.  This  opened  his  eyes,  and  he  readily 
acknowledged  Baltimore's  territorial  rights.  As 
the  station  was  already  under  his  control  as 
agent  for  the  London  merchants,  he  was  ap- 
pointed "  commander  "  of  the  island,  an  office 
somewhat  resembling  that  of  the  lieutenant  of 
a  county,  and  exercised  in  outlying  settlements 
when  much  independence  of  action  was  neces- 
sary. Returning  in  this  capacity  to  Kent,  he 
called  a  meeting  of  the  freemen,  caused  his 
commission  and  the  charter  of  Maryland  to  be 
read,  explained  the  question  of  the  title  and 
that  they  were  under  the  jurisdiction  of  Mary- 
land, and  endeavored  to  reconcile  them  to  the 
new  order  of  things  by  pointing  out  the  advan- 
tages, of  trade  and  other,  that  the  Marylanders 
enjoyed  over  the  Vii'ginians. 

No  objection  was  made,  but  the  island  con- 
tinued in  a  disorderly  state.      The  service  of 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  41 

Cloberry  and  Company's  processes  was  resisted 
by  violence,  and  Evelin  urged  the  Maryland 
authorities  to  send  a  force,  reduce  it  formall}^ 
and  restore  order,  which  was  done  by  an  expe- 
dition in  February,  1637-38,  under  command 
of  Governor  Calvert.  No  resistance  seems  to 
have  been  offered,  and  in  a  few  days  Calvert  re- 
turned, bringing  with  him,  as  a  prisoner,  Thomas 
Smith,  leader  in  the  affray  at  Great  Wighcoco- 
moco.  In  the  same  expedition  Palmer's  Island, 
on  which  Claiborne  had  placed  a  few  men,  was 
also  reduced,  and  a  fort,  called  Fort  Conquest, 
erected.  Claiborne  now  resolved  to  shake  the 
dust  of  ]\Iaryland  from  his  feet,  and  in  the  fol- 
lowing summer  he  obtained  a  grant  of  Rich 
Island  in  the  Bahamas,  within  the  Providence 
Company's  patent. 

The  second  Assembly  of  the  Province  met 
on  January  25,  1637-38,  and  of  this  the  record 
is  still  extant.  It  consisted  of  all  the  freemen 
of  the  colonj^  either  present  in  person  or  repre- 
sented by  their  proxies,  and  was  presided  over 
by  the  Governor,  with  whom  were  joined  coun- 
cillors appointed  by  the  Proprietary.  The  free- 
men were  summoned  by  writ,  and  when  assem- 
bled, proclamation  was  made  that  any  who  had 
been  omitted  in  the  writs  should  present  them- 
selves and  claim  theii-  seats.  Some  who  had 
given  proxies  came  forward  during  the  session, 


42  MARYLAND: 

revoked  their  proxies,  and  took  their  seats  in 
person.  A  curious  question  of  privilege  arose : 
whether  those  members  who  had  given  proxies 
were  exempt  from  arrest  for  debt,  and  it  was 
decided  that  no  man  who  had  a  right  to  a  seat 
in  the  Assembly  might  be  so  arrested  until 
after  the  Assembly  was  dissolved. 

A  draft  of  laws  sent  out  by  the  Proprietary 
was  read  and  rejected  by  a  large  majority. 
Here  was  a  deadlock  ;  if  the  Proprietary  would 
agree  to  no  laws  of  their  making,  and  they  to 
none  of  his  making,  how  was  the  colony  to  be 
governed  ?  By  the  laws  of  England,  it  was 
suggested.  But  the  Governor's  commission  did 
not  empower  him  to  deal  with  offences  punish- 
able by  death  or  mutilation,  under  any  laws 
save  those  of  the  Province.  The  answer  to  this 
objection  brings  clearly  before  us  the  smallness 
and  isolation  of  the  colony,  which  felt  itself 
like  a  frontier  garrison  or  a  ship  at  sea.  It 
was  answered,  "  that  such  enormous  offences 
could  hardly  be  committed  without  mutiny, 
and  then  they  might  be  punished  by  martial 
law." 

And  at  this  moment  there  was  a  prisoner  in 
their  hands  awaiting  trial  on  a  charge  of  piracy 
and  murder,  and  there  was  no  grand  jury  to 
indict  him,  no  court  to  try  him,  and  no  law  to 
try  him  under.     The  knot  was  cut  in  the  sim- 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  43 

plest  possible  way.  The  sheriff  impanelled  the 
whole  Assembly  as  a  grand  inquest,  and  they 
brought  in  an  indictment ;  the  Assembly  then 
resolved  itself  into  a  high  court  of  justice,  with 
Secretary  Lewger  as  Attorney-General,  gave 
the  prisoner  liberty  of  challenge,  heard  the  evi- 
dence on  both  sides,  and  found  him  guilty  ;  but 
whether  under  the  law  of  England,  or  a  law 
passed  at  the  previous  session,  does  not  clearly 
appear.  Smith  demanded  his  clergy,  but  it  was 
disallowed,  and  the  Governor,  as  president  of 
the  court,  pronounced  sentence  of  death.  A 
bill,  confirming  the  sentence,  was  read  thrice 
and  passed,  and  the  prisoner  was  executed. 
The  House  then  resolved  itself  into  a  coroner's 
jury,  and  inquired  into  the  deaths  of  the  per- 
sons killed  in  the  Pocomoke  affair. 

The  purely  legislative  proceedings  of  this  As- 
sembly deserve  notice.  It  tends  to  confirm  the 
idea  that  men  of  our  race  have  an  instinct  of 
organic  self-government,  as  bees  and  ants  have 
the  instinct  of  organised  labor,  when  we  find 
these  men,  most  of  whom  could  have  had  no 
legislative  or  administrative  experience,  and 
several  of  whom  had  been  indented  servants 
but  a  year  or  two  before,  not  only  solving  the 
difficulties  before  them  in  a  way  at  once  legal 
and  perfectly  effective,  but  shaping  their  whole 
organisation  and  action  in  conformity  with  a 


44  MARYLAND: 

clear  ideal  of  what  such  a  body  should  be  and 
do.  They  provided,  as  we  have  seen,  for  privi- 
lege of  parliament,  and  for  the  time-honored 
three  readings  ;  they  enacted  a  body  of  laws, 
forty-two  in  number,  providing  for  allegiance 
to  the  King,  liberties  of  the  people,  and  a  civil 
list  for  the  Proprietary  ;  for  causes  civil  and 
criminal,  for  the  settlement,  allotment,  alienar 
tion,  and  descent  of  land  ;  for  ports,  a  town,  and 
a  fort ;  for  matters  testamentary,  future  assem- 
blies, and  the  organisation  of  the  militia.  They 
attainted  Claiborne  (then  in  England)  and  de- 
clared his  possessions  in  the  Province  forfeit, 
for  sending  out  Warren's  expedition,  and  so 
closed  this  remarkable  session. 

The  Proprietary  saw  that  his  colonists  were 
men  who  might  be  trusted  to  manage  their  own 
affairs  ;  and  with  that  far-sighted  wisdom  which 
characterised  him,  sent  over  to  his  brother  full 
authority  to  assent  in  his  name  to  laws  made  by 
the  freemen,  reserving  to  himself  only  the  veto 
power;  while,  to  avoid  the  inconvenience  and 
danger  of  leaving  the  Province  without  laws, 
they  were  to  be  operative  until  his  final  assent 
or  dissent  was  received.  Thus  was  the  pi*inci- 
ple  of  free  self-government  firmly  and  peacea- 
bly established  in  Maryland,  four  years  from 
the  settlement  of  the  colony. 

Nor  had  Calvert  planted  English  institutions 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  45 

in  Maryland  simply  as  he  found  them.  He 
went  back  to  a  better  time  for  freedom  of  ac- 
tion, and  looked  forward  to  a  better  time  for 
freedom  of  thought.  While  as  yet  there  was 
no  spot  in  Christendom  where  religious  belief 
was  free,  and  when  even  the  Commons  of  Eng- 
land had  openly  declared  against  toleration,  he 
founded  a  community  wherein  no  man  was  to 
be  molested  for  his  faith.  At  a  time  when  ab- 
solutism had  struck  down  representative  gov- 
ernment in  England,  and  it  was  doubtful  if  a 
Parliament  of  freemen  would  ever  meet  again, 
he  founded  a  community  in  which  no  laws  were 
to  be  made  without  the  consent  of  the  freemen. 
The  Ark  and  the  Dove  were  names  of  happy 
omen  :  the  one  saved  from  the  general  wreck 
the  germs  of  political  liberty,  and  the  other 
bore  the  olive-branch  of  religious  peace. 

At  the  next  session  the  government  was  re- 
modelled. Writs  of  election  superseded  writs 
of  summons  :  in  place  of  the  cumbrous  and  in- 
convenient popular  assembly,  burgesses  were  to 
be  chosen  from  every  hundred,  and  these  bur- 
gesses, with  the  Governor  and  Council,  consti- 
tuted the  House  of  Assembly,  which  was  to 
meet  triennially,  unless  specially  summoned. 

Two  anomalies,  however,  still  remained :  the 
Proprietary  had  the  right  of  summoning  mem- 
bers by  special  writ,  who  sat  and  voted  with 


46  MARYLAND: 

the  burgesses,  and  Llius  had  it  in  his  power  to 
swamp  the  popular  vote  whenever  he  saw  fit ; 
but  it  does  not  appear  that  the  attempt  was 
ever  made.  The  second  anomaly  was  an  in- 
compatible relic  of  the  older  system.  Those 
freemen  who  had  not  voted  for  the  burgesses 
elected  were  allowed  to  appear  in  person  and 
claim  their  seats ;  and  this  was  done  at  this 
very  Assembly.  Two  burgesses  were  chosen 
for  St.  Mary's  hundred  ;  but  two  freemen  pre- 
sented themselves  before  the  Assembly,  and 
claimed  and  were  allowed  seats  on  the  ground 
that  the}'  had  not  voted  for  the  burgesses,  and 
were  therefore  not  represented.  By  this  ex- 
traordinary application  of  the  principle  of  mi- 
nority representation,  tlie  votes  of  this  minority 
of  two  would  have  counterbalanced  those  of  the 
whole  body  of  electors,  and  had  they  been  three 
would  have  outnumbered  them.  It  is  probable 
that  the  irrationality  of  the  thing  was  at  once 
seen,  as  the  two  do  not  appear  in  the  records  as 
voting  on  any  question. 

The  Assembly,  thus  constituted,  set  out  at 
once  to  build  up  from  the  foundations  a  system 
of  government  for  the  Province.  Four  acts 
were  passed,  having  somewliat  the  character  of 
a  Bill  of  Rights,  securing  all  rights  and  liberties 
to  '■  Holy  Church,"  allegiance  to  the  King,  the 
liberties  of  Englishmen  to  the  people,  and  his 


THE  HISTORY   OF  A   PALATINATE.  47 

territorial  rights  to  the  Proprietary.  This 
done,  they  established  courts  for  the  trial  of 
causes  civil  and  criminal,  provided  justices  of 
the  peace  and  other  officers,  enacted  a  code  of 
laws,  regulated  commerce  and  agriculture,  and 
made  provision  for  the  meeting  and  inspection 
of  the  militia.  These  acts,  however,  for  some 
unexplained  reason,  did  not  pass  to  a  third 
reading,  and  it  was  not  until  the  next  session 
that  the  colony  was  equipped  with  all  the  ma- 
chinery of  a  representative  popular  govern- 
ment. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

INVASION    OF    CLAIBOKNE   AND   INGLE. 
TOLERATION. 

DuKiNG  all  tins  time  the  population  of  Ma- 
ryland was  steadily  growing.  Colonists  came, 
bringing  out  at  their  own  expense  twenty-five, 
ten,  five  settlers,  and  taking  up  manors  and 
plantations  ;  while  others  brought  themselves 
only,  and  received  homesteads.  Pamphlets, 
published  in  England,  set  forth  the  attractions 
of  the  colony,  and  gave  advice  to  intending  set- 
tlers. The  old  planters  wrote  home  for  more 
men,  and  on  their  arrival  took  up  more  land. 
At  the  same  time  the  danger  of  the  accumula- 
tion of  vast  unused  tracts  in  single  hands  was 
met  by  a  law  providing  that  lands  long  unsettled 
and  uncultivated  should  revert  to  the  Proprie- 
tary. When  the  population  of  a  district  had 
sufficiently  increased,  it  was  made  a  hundred. 
In  January,  1637-38,  St.  George's  hundred,  on 
the  west  bank  of  that  river,  was  erected  and 
placed  under  the  command  of  a  high  constable. 
By  the  returns  of  the  writs  in  the  next  election, 
it  seems  to  have  had  about  twenty-two  electors. 

The  settlers  brought  out  under  the  general 
title  of  "  servants  "  paid  for  their  passage  by 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  49 

short  terms  of  service,  sometimes  of  three  years, 
but  usually  five.  Of  these  most  were  farmers ; 
others  were  craftsmen,  masons,  bricklayers, 
carpenters,  leather-dressers,  and  so  forth,  not  a 
few  of  them  being  younger  sons  of  good  fam- 
ilies. Cornwaleys,  in  a  memorial  to  the  As- 
sembly, speaks  of  the  number  he  has  brought 
over,  "some  of  whom  were  of  good  rank  and 
quality."  These  all,  when  their  terms  expired, 
became  freemen,  took  up  land,  and  were  eligi- 
ble as  burgesses.  In  the  Assembly  of  1637-38 
we  find  several  of  those  who  were  brought  out 
as  "  servants  "  in  the  first  immigration  taking 
their  seats  as  "planters." 

Many  craftsmen  came  out  at  their  own  ex- 
pense and  received  allotments  of  land  larger 
than  those  granted  to  simple  working-men. 
For  instance,  Richard  Purlivant,  barber-chirur- 
geon,  receives  one  hundred  acres  for  having 
transported  himself  at  his  own  charge  into  the 
Province,  and  two  hundred  more  for  "  having 
practised  his  art  to  the  benefit  of  the  inhabitants 
of  our  Isle  of  Kent."  From  all  the  evidence  it 
is  plain  that  for  a  long  time  the  settlers  were 
of  the  kinds  most  desirable  for  a  young  colony, 
being  partly  men  of  substance  who  came  with 
wives  and  children  ;  and  partly  industrious,  able 
young  men  who  came  to  work,  to  gain  home- 
steads, and  to  raise  families.  No  religious  nor 
4 


50  MARYLAND: 

political  tests  were  required,  beyond  allegiance 
to  the  King,  fidelity  to  the  Proprietary,  and 
obedience  to  the  law. 

The  state  of  things  which  resulted  again 
takes  us  back  to  the  old  Teutonic  idea  of  a 
community,  as  distinguished  from  that  of  the 
south  of  Europe.  The  mild  and  healthy  cli- 
mate, the  fertile  soil,  the  abundance  of  water 
and  of  game,  all  tended  to  make  a  country  life 
especially  attractive.  The  wealthy  planter 
lived  on  his  plantation  all  the  year.  Again, 
the  numbers  of  navigable  streams,  creeks,  and 
inlets  hindered  the  growth  of  towns.  Vessels 
loading  tobacco,  the  staple  growth  of  the  col- 
ony, went  from  plantation  to  plantation,  taking 
each  planter's  crop  from  his  own  landing. 
Thus  each  plantation  tended  to  become  a  small 
self-supporting  commanit}^  producing  within 
itself  nearly  all  that  it  needed,  and  supplying 
what  was  lacking  by  its  own  trade.  These 
conditions  of  life  powerfully  aided  in  bringing 
about  that  patriarchal  state  of  society,  and  that 
strong  feeling  of  family  ties,  so  characteristic  of 
Maryland  and  of  tidewater  Virginia. 

Peace  and  order  now  seemed  assured.  Clai- 
borne had  ceased  to  trouble.  The  Kent  island- 
ers were  apparently  reconciled  to  the  new  gov- 
ernment, for  we  find  them  coming  forward  in 
1640,  taking  the  oath  of  fidelity,  and  having 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  51 

their  grants  from  Claiborne  regranted  by  the 
Proprietary.  All  the  conditions  of  prosperity 
seem  to  have  met,  had  the  Province  been  un- 
molested from  without. 

With  the  southern  Indians  about  Patuxent 
and  Pascataway,  the  relations  of  the  colonists 
were  of  the  most  friendly  kind.  The  Jesuit 
missionaries,  with  their  usual  zeal,  had  scattered 
themselves  among  these  Indians,  who  received 
them  kindly  and  readily  embraced  the  Christian 
faith.  In  1640  the  Tayac,  or  emperor,  of  Pas- 
cataway, who  seems  to  have  held  sovereignty 
over  several  tribes,  was  baptized  and  married  ac- 
cording to  the  Christian  rite.  This  was  an  event 
of  political  as  well  as  religious  importance,  as  it 
secured  for  the  colony  the  friendship  of  a  pow- 
erful chief  and  of  the  nearest  tribes  ;  and  it  was 
recognised  as  such  by  Governor  Calvert,  who, 
with  Secretary  Lewger  and  other  leading  men 
of  the  Province,  paid  a  formal  visit  to  the  Ta- 
yac to  be  present  at  the  ceremony,  which  is 
thus  described  in  the  missionaries'  report  for 
1640:  — 

"  Ou  the  5th  of  July,  1640,  when  he  [the 
Tayac]  was  sufficiently  instructed  in  the  mys- 
teries of  the  faith,  in  a  solemn  manner  he  re- 
ceived the  sacramental  waters  in  a  little  chapel, 
which,  for  that  purpose,  and  for  divine  worship, 
he  had  erected  of  bark,  after  the  manner  of 


52  MARYLAND: 

the  Indians.  At  the  same  time  the  Queen,  with 
an  infant  at  the  breast,  and  others  of  the  prin- 
cipal men  whom  he  especially  admitted  to  liis 
counsels,  together  with  his  little  son,  were  re- 
generated in  the  baptismal  font.  To  the  em- 
peror, who  was  called  Chitomachen  before,  was 
given  the  name  of  Charles ;  to  his  wife,  that  of 
Mary.  .  .  .  The  Governor  was  present  at  the 
ceremony,  together  with  the  Secretary  and 
many  others  ;  nor  was  anything  wanting  in 
display  which  our  means  could  supply.  In 
the  afternoon  the  King  and  Queen  were  nnited 
in  matrimony  in  the  Christian  manner ;  then  a 
great  cross  was  erected,  in  carrying  which  to  its 
destined  place  the  King,  Governor,  Secretary, 
and  others,  lent  their  shoulders  and  hands." 

The  forest  prince  also  brought  his  little 
daughter,  seven  years  old,  to  be  educated  at 
St.  Mary's,  and  other  chiefs  expressed  a  desire 
for  the  teachings  of  the  missionaries.  Nor  did 
these  faithful  and  devoted  men  confine  their 
services  to  religious  instruction  ;  they  taught 
the  Indians  simple  arts ;  they  gave  medical 
treatment  to  their  sick,  and  shared  their  corn 
with  them  in  time  of  famine.  They  went  from 
place  to  place  in  a  boat,  —  these  tribes  being 
fisliing  Indians,  and  living  on  the  creeks  and 
inlets,  —  and  if,  towards  evening,  they  reached 
an  Indian  village  or  hut  they  were  joyfully  re- 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  53 

ceived ;  if  not,  tliey  made  fast  the  boat,  the 
priest  gathered  wood  and  built  a  fire,  while 
the  others  sought  for  game  of  some  kind  for 
the  evening  meal,  after  which  they  slept  by 
their  camp-fire  in  perfect  security. 

Wrongs  and  outrages  upon  the  friendly  In- 
dians were  summarily  punished.  In  1643,  one 
Dandy,  a  blacksmith,  who  had  shot  an  Indian 
boy,  was  promptly  tried  and  condemned  to 
death.  But  a  blacksmith  was  too  valuable  a 
member  of  the  community  to  be  lightly  parted 
with,  and,  in  deference  to  a  strong  petition. 
Dandy's  sentence  was  commuted  to  penal  ser- 
vitude, with  the  addition  that  he  was  to  be 
"executioner  of  corporal  corrections  ;  "  that  is, 
public  flogger  and  hangman.  It  would  have 
been  economy  to  hang  hira  at  once.,  for  it  had 
to  be  done  a  few  years  later. 

But  the  fierce  Susquehannoughs  on  the  north, 
and  the  Nanticokes  in  the  east,  were  not  so 
friendly.  From  time  to  time  they  attacked  the 
southern  tribes,  and  even  some  outlying  planta- 
tions of  the  English ;  and,  in  1642,  they  were 
more  troublesome  than  ever,  murdered  several 
settlers  and  burned  their  houses,  and  seemed 
to  be  plotting  more  serious  mischief.  Calveit 
at  once,  though  the  burgesses  seemed  faint- 
hearted in  the  matter,  began  to  take  measures 
for  defence.      Signals    were    agreed   upon   by 


54  MARYLAND: 

■which  news  of  an  attack  could  be  passed 
swiftly  from  plantation  to  plantation ;  officers 
were  appointed  to  command  the  militia ;  the 
most  defensible  house  in  each  hundred  was 
designated  as  the  spot  to  which  the  women 
and  children  were  to  be  convej^ed,  in  case  of 
an  alarm ;  and  the  Governor  wrote  to  Governor 
Berkeley  of  Virginia,  proposing  a  joint  expe- 
dition into  the  Indian  country.  It  was  prob- 
ably on  account  of  the  preparations  for  this  ex- 
pedition that,  at  the  session  of  the  Assembly,  in 
August,  the  freemen  were  summoned  to  attend 
in  person,  instead  of  electing  representatives. 
The  Virginia  Council  refused  to  cooperate,  and 
the  expedition  seems  to  have  been  dropped. 

The  loss  of  the  records  leaves  us  much  in 
the  dark  as  to  the  events  of  these  years,  but  it 
was  evidently  an  anxious  and  threatening  time 
for  the  colony.  We  catch  glimpses  of  various 
outrages  and  murders,  and  of  at  least  one  seri- 
ous disaster  to  the  English.  One  thing  is  evi- 
dent, that  the  savages,  from  some  cause  or 
other,  were  in  a  threatening  and  dangerous 
mood,  and  were  suspected  of  intriguing  with 
the  Pascataways  and  other  friendly  tribes  to 
combine  in  a  general  attack. 

Matters  of  the  gravest  character,  involving 
no  less  than  the  fundamental  constitution  of 
the  Province,  now  pressed  themselves  upon  the 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A   PALATINATE.  55 

Proprietary  for  a  solution.  Various  Indian 
chiefs,  in  their  gratitude  to  the  missionaries, 
had  bestowed  upon  them  considerable  tracts  of 
land,  which  of  course  became  the  property  of 
the  Jesuit  order.  The  priests,  moreover,  dwell- 
ing in  the  wilderness,  freed  from  the  statute  law, 
and  no  longer  under  the  shadow  of  praemunire^ 
were  disposed  to  claim  the  immunities  and  ex- 
emptions of  the  bull  In  Coena  Domini^  and  to 
hold  themselves  free  of  the  common  law,  and 
answerable  to  the  canon  law  only,  and  to  eccle- 
siastical tribunals.  Baltimore  was  a  Romanist 
in  faith,  but  he  was  an  Englishman,  with  all 
the  instincts  of  his  race.  He  at  once  planted 
himself  on  the  ground  that  all  his  colonists, 
•cleric  or  lay,  were  under  the  common  law,  and 
that  there  should  be  no  land  held  in  mortmain 
in  the  Province. 

Foreseeing  that  this  was  likely  to  bring  hipi 
into  conflict  with  the  Jesuit  order,  he  promptly 
took  a  decisive  step.  He  applied  to  Rome  to 
have  the  Jesuits  removed  from  the  missions, 
and  a  prefect  and  secular  priests  appointed  in 
Uieir  stead  ;  and  an  order  to  this  effect  was 
issued  by  the  Propaganda. 

In  1641  he  issued  new  Conditions  of  Planta- 
tions, containing  six  sections,  four  of  which  are 
upon  the  record.  The  fifth  and  sixth  ^  provide 
1  Stonyliurst  MSS.  Anglia,  IV.     Cited  in  Johnson's  Fourt' 


66  MARYLAND: 

that  no  lands  shall  be  granted  to,  or  held  by,  any 
corporation  or  society,  ecclesiastical  or  temporal, 
without  special  license  from  the  Proprietary. 
The  code  had  already  reserved  to  the  civil 
power  all  authority  in  matters  testamentary, 
and  placed  all  the  colonists  under  the  common 
law. 

The  Proprietary's  prompt  and  decisive  action 
seems  to  have  taken  the  Jesuit  fathers  by  sur- 
prise. A  conference  was  held  between  them, 
the  Governor,  and  Secretary  Lewger,  and  the 
points  raised,  involving  the  whole  attitude  of 
the  Roman  Church  in  Maryland  toward  the 
Proprietary  government,  were  submitted  to  the 
Provincial  of  England.  At  the  same  time  a 
memorial  was  sent  to  the  Propaganda,  protest- 
ing against  the  hardship  of  removing  those 
who  had  borne  all  the  burden  and  heat  of  the 
day,  just  as  they  were  beginning  to  reap  some 
fruit  of  their  labors.  The  Provincial,  Father 
More,  decided  that  the  Conditions  of  Planta- 
tion were  not  in  conflict  with  the  bull  In  Coena, 
and  executed  a  release  of  all  the  lands  acquired 
by  the  society  from  the  Indians.  The  order 
for  their  removal  was  then  rescinded,  Baltimore 
having  carried  his  point.  The  whole  matter 
was  thus   settled  ;    lands  henceforth  could  not 

dation  of  Maryland,  Md.  Hist.  Soc.  Pub.,  No.  18,  where  the 
subject  is  discussed  at  length. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A   PALATINATE.  57 

be  held  in  mortmain,  and  all,  cleric  and  lay, 
were  henceforth  to  be  under  the  common  law. 

This  settlement  has  left  permanent  imprints 
on  Maryland  legislation.  In  her  alone,  of  all 
the  States,  no  lands  can  be  sold,  given,  or  de- 
vised to  a  religions  body,  or  for  a  religious  use, 
without  consent  of  the  legislature  ;  no  priest, 
clergyman,  or  preacher  of  the  gospel  can  sit  in 
the  Assembly,  nor  has  any  sat  from  the  founda- 
tion of  the  colony.! 

In  England,  civil  war  between  the  King  and 
Parliament  had  broken  out  in  1642,  and  its 
disturbing  effects  were  soon  felt  across  the 
Atlantic.  Baltimore  was  bound  to  the  King 
by  ties  of  gratitude  as  well  as  fidelity,  but  we 
have  no  evidence  that  he  favored  those  measures 
which  were  most  distasteful  to  the  people,  or 
that  he  approved  a  policy  so  unlike  his  own  ; 
and,  so  far  as  we  can  see,  he  took  no  prominent 
part  in  public  matters. 

Though  Maryland,  exempt  at  once  from  the 
legislation  of  Parliament  and  the  demands  of 
the  King,  had  no  immediate  interest  in  Eng- 
land's great  quarrel,  yet,  as  was  natural,  each 
side  had  its  sympathizers  in  the  Province,  and, 
as  was  still  more  natural,  since  Baltimore  was 
known  to  be  a  royalist,  all  disaffections  against 

^  The  solitary  apparent  exception  to  this  was  in  the  case  of 
the  apostate  Coode,  who  had  renounced  his  clerical  office. 


58  MARYLAND: 

his  government  were  ready  to  take  the  side  of 
Parliament,  and  all  partisans  of  Parliament  in- 
clined toward  the  disaffected.  Circumstances 
were  not  wanting  to  kindle  antagonisms-  and, 
as  has  ever  been  the  case  in  Maryland  history, 
internal  traitors  were  quick  to  seek  help  from 
external  foes,  though  at  cost  of  the  ruin  of  the 
community. 

In  April,  1643,  Governor  Calvert  sailed  for 
England,  to  confer  witli  his  brother  about  the 
state  of  affairs  in  the  Province,  and  probably 
to  see  with  his  own  eyes  how  matters  were  go- 
ing in  the  mother-country,  leaving  Giles  Brent, 
as  deputy,  in  his  stead.  Brent  appointed  that 
stout  soldier,  Thomas  Cornwaleys,  captain-gen- 
eral of  the  forces  in  the  Province,  and  he  con- 
cluded a  peace  with  the  Nanticokes,  and  led  an 
expedition  against  the  Susquehannoughs. 

In  the  following  January,  things  being  still 
in  this  uneasy  state,  it  chanced  that  one  Richard 
Ingle,  commander  of  the  merchant  ship  Refor- 
mation, was  taking  in  cargo  at  St.  IMary's,  and 
information  was  laid  before  the  authorities  of 
certain  treasonable  speeches  of  his  :  that  the 
King  was  no  king,  that  if  he  had  Prince  Ru- 
pert on  board  he  would  flog  him  at  the  capstan, 
emphasized  with  flourishes  of  his  cutlass,  and 
threats  of  cutting  off  the  heads  of  gainsayers. 
He  was  arrested  to  answer  a  charge  of  high 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A   PALATINATE.  59 

treason,  and  a  guard  put  on  board  bis  sbip. 
But  bardly  had  this  been  done,  when  Corn- 
waleys,  Councilor  Neale,  and  one  or  two  oth- 
ers, caused  the  sheriff  to  take  his  prisoner  on 
board  his  ship,  contrary  to  express  orders,  and 
made  the  guard  lay  down  their  arms,  where- 
upon Ingle,  taking  command,  sailed  away,  with- 
out his  cleai'ance,  and  without  paying  his  debts. 
For  this  affair  Cornwaleys  was  impeached  and 
fined,  and  Neale  was  dismissed  from  the  Coun- 
cil, but  soon  after  reinstated. 

The  next  we  hear  of  Ingle,  he  and  his  ship 
are  back  in  St.  George's  River,  and  there  are 
other  warrants  out  against  him  for  assaults. 
He  promises  to  deposit  a  barrel  of  powder  and 
four  hundred  pounds  of  shot,  as  security  that 
he  will  appear  to  answer  all  charges  the  next 
February,  and  again  slips  off,  not  only  without 
leaving  the  powder  and  shot,  but  without  pay- 
ing his  port-dues  or  getting  his  clearance,  and 
taking  with  him,  as  a  passenger,  his  friend 
Cornwaleys. 

There  is  something  by  no  means  clear  about 
these  proceedings.  It  is  plain  that  Ingle  could 
not  be  suffered  to  go  vaporing  about,  making 
his  bear-garden  flourish,  and  talking  blatant 
treason,  unchecked.  Yet  in  the  critical  posi- 
tion in  which  the  Province  then  was,  with 
enemies,  both  savage  and  civilized,  bestirring 


60  M A  It  y LAND: 

themselves  without,  and  an  unknown  amount 
of  disaffection  at  home,  the  trial  and  punish- 
ment of  Ingle  might  have  kindled  civil  war. 
It  is  quite  likely  that  the  public  stock  of  am- 
munition was  low,  and  to  get  a  good  supply  of 
powder  and  shot,  and  be  rid  of  Ingle,  both  at 
once,  may  have  seemed  to  the  Governor  and 
Council  a  good  stroke  of  policy,  though  in  this 
they  were  out-manoeuvred. 

In  September,  1644,  Governor  Calvert  came 
back,  and  found  the  Province  full  of  disquiet. 
Claiborne  was  making  secret  visits  to  Kent 
Island,  and  trying  to  form  a  party  there.  He 
had  received  increase  of  honors,  and  presum- 
ably of  emolument,  from  the  King,  being  made 
treasurer  of  Virginia  for  life  ;  but  the  battle  of 
Marston  Moor  was  an  argument  that  carried 
more  weight.  But  the  islanders  were  a  simple 
and  rather  peaceful  folk ;  and  now  that  their 
holdings  had  been  confirmed  to  them,  they 
could  no  longer  be  aroused  by  the  cry  that 
they  were  to  be  turned  out  of  their  lands. 
They  were,  moreover,  inconveniently  loyal  to 
the  King ;  so  Claiborne,  fertile  in  resource,  had 
to  try  another  expedient.  He  assured  them 
that  he  was  acting  by  order  of  the  King,  and, 
producing  a  parchment,  averred  that  it  was  the 
King's  commission  to  him,  William  Claiborne. 

Wliilc  these   things  were   going  on    at   the 


THE    HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  61 

north,  Ingle  came  back  with  an  armed  ship, 
apparently  with  some  sort  of  authority  from 
Parliament,  and  certainly  with  two  hundred 
pounds'  worth  of  goods  entrusted  to  him  by 
his  friend  Cornwaleys,  with  which  he  had  run 
away.  He  said  that  he  had  letters  of  marque, 
and  it  is  not  at  all  unlikely.  So,  fifty  years 
later,  had  Captain  Kidd,  a  gentleman  who  held 
views  as  to  the  rights  of  property  very  similar 
to  Ingle's.  He  landed  at  St.  Mary's.  The  loss 
of  the  records  prevents  our  seeing  distinctly 
what  was  done ;  nor  can  it  be  positively  said 
that  there  was  a  plot  between  the  two ;  but,  at 
all  events,  Ingle  with  his  letters  from  Parlia- 
ment, and  Claiborne  with  his  "  king's  commis- 
sion," were  drawn  together  by  an  affinity  that 
was  stronger  than  either.  The  invasion  was 
completely  successful ;  St.  Mary's  was  seized, 
and  Governor  Calvert  went  over  to  Virginia 
for  help.  For  two  years  the  Province  remained 
in  the  hands  of  the  insurgents.  We  catch 
glimpses  of  Ingle  and  his  men  marauding 
about,  imprisoning  men,  pillaging  plantations, 
seizing  corn,  tobacco,  and  cattle,  stripping 
mills  of  their  machinery,  and  even  houses  of 
their  locks  and  hinges,  shipping  their  plunder 
to  England,  and  comporting  themselves  gener- 
ally like  mere  brigands ;  but  of  any  attempts 
at  government,  on  their  part,  we  find  no  trace. 


62  MARYLAND: 

Among  the  rest,  the  house  and  plantations 
of  Cornwaleys  were  j^lundered.  On  Ingle's 
return  to  England,  anticipating  that  Corn- 
waleys would  hold  him  to  account,  he  laid 
charges  against  his  former  friend  and  rescuer 
as  being  an  enemy  to  government,  and  hud 
him  arrested  on  false  charges  of  debt,  amount- 
ing to  fifteen  thousand  pounds  sterling.  But 
Cornwaleys'  friends  took  him  out  of  prison, 
and  he  prosecuted  Ingle  for  his  robberies. 
Ingle,  apparently  as  a  last  resource,  sent  in  a 
petition  to  Parliament,  which  is  a  curiosity. 
He  avers  that  all  he  did  was  for  conscience' 
sake ;  that  he  only  plundered  "  papists  and 
malignants,"  for  the  sake  of  relieving  the  dis- 
tressed Protestants,  and  points  out  how  dis- 
couraging it  will  be  to  the  well-affected  if 
papists  and  malignants  are  allowed  to  bring 
actions  at  law  against  them. 

In  these  garboils  the  missionary  stations  were 
broken  up,  and  the  venerable  Father  White  was 
sent  in  irons  to  England,  where  he  was  tried 
on  a  charge  of  treason,  but  acquitted.  On  ac- 
count of  his  age  and  infirmity  he  was  not  per- 
mitted by  his  superiors  to  return  to  Maryland, 
and  died  in  England  in  1656.^ 

In  March,  1645,  Hill,  a  Virginian,  was  elected 
governor  by  the  remnant  of  the  Council,  though 
1  Rec.  o/Eng,  Prov.  series  VIL 


TUE   HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  63 

they  had  no  power  to  elect  any  one  not  a  resi- 
dent of  the  Province,  and  he  appears  to  have 
exercised  some  show  of  irregular  authority,  but 
to  what  extent  we  cannot  see. 

The  Proprietary,  on  learning  these  things, 
seems  to  have  considered  his  Province  lost,  and 
sent  out  instructions  to  his  brother  to  secure 
whatever  of  his  private  property  could  be  saved 
from  the  general  ruin.  Leonard,  however,  saw 
that  matters  were  by  no  means  desperate.  The 
proceedings  of  Ingle  and  Claiborne  were  not 
likely  to  strengthen  their  hold  on  Maryland, 
and  Virginia,  with  that  staunch  royalist,  Sir 
"William  Berkeley,  at  its  head,  was  still  faith- 
ful to  the  King. 

Towards  the  end  of  1646,  Governor  Calvert, 
seeing  his  time,  raised  a  small  force  of  Virgin- 
ians and  fugitive  Marylanders,  pledging  his 
own  and  his  brother's  estates  to  pay  them,  and 
with  these  he  entered  St.  Mary's  unresisted, 
and  the  whole  Western  Shore  at  once  acknowl- 
edged his  authority.  Kent  Island  held  out  for 
a  while,  but  soon  submitted,  and  a  general  par- 
don was  proclaimed  to  all  who  would  take  the 
oath  of  fidelity.  Ingle  and  his  associate  Durford 
alone  being  excepted. 

The  Province  was  now  at  peace  ,•  but  Leon- 
ard Calvert  did  not  long  live  to  enjoy  the  fruits 
of  his  labors.     He  died  on  the  9th  of  June, 


64  MARYLAND: 

1647,  having  appointed  Thomas  Greene  his 
successor,  and  leaving  his  kinswoman,  Mistress 
Margaret  Brent,  his  executrix,  with  the  brief 
instructions,  "  Take  all  and  pay  all."  After 
thirteen  years  of  faithful  service  in  the  highest 
office  in  the  Province,  this  wise,  just,  and  hu- 
mane Governor  left  a  personal  estate  amounting 
to  only  one  hundred  and  ten  pounds  sterling. 

In  view  of  subsequent  occurrences  one  is 
tempted  to  think  that  if  he  had  reversed  his 
testamentary  dispositions  and  made  Greene  his 
executor  and  Mistress  Brent  governor,  it  would 
have  been,  on  the  whole,  a  better  arrangement. 

This  Mistress  Margaret  Brent  deserves  to  be 
remembered  as  the  only  woman  whose  figure 
stands  out  clear  in  our  colonial  history.  She 
had  come  to  the  Province  in  1638  with  her  sis- 
ter Mary,  bringing  over  nine  colonists,  five  men 
and  four  women.  They  took  up  manors,  im- 
ported more  settlers,  and  managed  their  affairs 
with  masculine  ability.  One  of  the  two  courts- 
baron,  of  which  the  records  have  been  discov- 
ered, was  held  on  St.  Gabriel's  Manor,  the 
estate  of  Mary  Brent.. 

On  the  strength  of  her  appointment  as  ex- 
ecutrix ("  administrator  "  the  record  calls  her), 
Margaret  Brent  claimed  and  was  allowed  the 
right  of  acting  as  the  Proprietary's  attorney,  a 
right  which  she  exercised  with  energy.      On 


TUB  HISTORY   OF  A  PALATINATE.  65 

January  21,  16-47-48,  "  came  Mrs.  Margarett 
Brent  and  i-equested  to  have  vote  in  the  howse 
for  her  selfe  and  voyce  allso,  for  that  att  the 
last  Court  3'^  Jan.  it  was  ordered  that  the  said 
Mrs.  Brent  was  to  be  lookd  uppon  and  received 
as  his  Lps.  Attorney.  The  Govr.  denyed  that 
the  sd.  Mrs.  Brent  should  have  any  vote  in  the 
howse.  And  the  sd.  Mrs.  Brent  protested 
against  all  proceedings  in  this  present  Assem- 
bly unlesse  shee  may  be  present  and  have  vote 
as  aforesd." 

Once  we  find  her  acting  with  decision  at  a 
critical  time.  Governor  Calvert,  in  securing 
the  services  of  the  soldiers  by  whose  aid  he 
had  recovered  the  Province,  had  pledged,  as 
was  said,  his  own  and  his  brother's  estates  for 
their  pay.  His  death  prevented  his  making 
good  his  pledge,  and  the  soldiers  were  clamor- 
ous for  their  pay,  and  seemed  ripe  for  mutiny, 
which,  with  the  weak  Greene  at  the  head  of 
affairs,  would  have  been  most  disastrous.  Mis- 
tress Brent  saw  the  danger,  and  met  it  with 
promptness.  She  quieted  down  the  soldiers, 
who,  as  the  Assembly  testify,  treated  her  with 
a  respect  that  they  would  have  shown  to  none 
other,  and  she  took  from  the  Proprietary's  cat- 
tle enough  to  pay  their  arrears.  Baltimore 
was  disposed  to  find  fault  with  her  conduct ; 
but  the  Assembly,  in  a  letter  to  him,  tell  him 
5 


66  MARYLAND: 

plainly  that  but  for  his  kinswoman's  timely  ac- 
tion all  would  have  gone  to  ruin.  One  regrets 
that  so  few  particulars  of  her  life  are  left  to  us, 
and  that  we  have  no  portrait  of  this  stately  old 
English  gentlewoman. 

In  1648,  Baltimore,  probably  to  remove  a 
source  of  discontent  in  the  Province,  and,  in 
part,  to  stop  the  mouths  of  his  enemies  who 
never  wearied  of  representing  Maryland  as  a 
stronghold  of  popery,  in  which  Protestants 
were  subject  to  persecution  and  oppression,  re- 
moved Greene  and  appointed  William  Stone,  a 
Protestant,  governor,  at  the  same  time  recon- 
structing the  Council,  so  as  to  give  the  Protest- 
ants a  majority.  The  governor's  oath  of  office 
was  so  worded  as  to  bind  him  not  to  molest 
or  discountenance  any  person  of  any  form  of 
Christian  faith,  for,  or  in  respect  of,  religion, 
an  additional  clause  extending  this  protection 
more  particularly  to  the  Roman  Catholics,  as 
at  that  time  they  were  most  likely  to  be  the 
objects  of  persecution. 

The  great  seal  of  the  Province  having  been 
lost  or  stolen  during  the  rebellion,  —  being  of 
silver  it  could  hardly  have  escaped  Ingle's 
clutches,  —  Baltimore  sent  out  a  new  one.  It 
bore  the  Calvert  and  Crossland  arms,  quar- 
tered,!  surmounted  with  a  Palatine's  cap  or 
1  The  Calvert  bearings  are :  Paly  of  six,  or  and  sable,  a 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  67 

coronet,  symbolizing  the  Proprietary's  palati- 
nate jurisdiction,  and  over  all  the  Calvert  crest. 
A  ploughman  and  a  fisherman  were  the  sup- 
porters, and  beneath  was  a  scroll  bearing  the 
Calvert  motto,  Fatti  Maschij  Parole  Femine} 
Behind  all  was  a  mantle  of  Palatine  purple, 
surrounded  with  the  inscription,  Scuto  Bonae 
Voluntatis  Tuae  Coronasti  Nos. 

This  beautiful  historic  device,  perpetuating 
at  once  the  nature  of  her  foundation  and  the 
lineage  of  her  founder,  still  remains  the  seal 
and  symbol  of  Maryland. 

In  1649  was  passed  the  famous  Act  of  Toler- 
ation, or,  as  it  is  entitled,  "  An  Act  concerning 
Religion."  After  forbidding,  under  penalty  of 
death,  blasphemy   against  any   Person    of   the 

bend  dexter  counterchanged ;  the  Crossland,  Quarterly,  ar- 
gent and  gules,  a  cross  flory  (or  botony)  counterchanged. 
Crest,  a  ducal  crown  surmounted  by  two  half  bannerets. 

^  The  popular  rendering  of  this  motto  is :  "  Manly  deeds, 
womanly  words."  This  is  certainly  pretty,  but  its  correct- 
ness may  be  questioned.  Femine  (feminine)  is  not  an  adjec- 
tive, but  a  substantive,  and  the  exact  version  is,  "  Deeds  [are] 
males,  words  females."  In  fact  it  is  an  old  proverb,  which  is 
cited  and  explained  in  the  Dictionary  of  the  Accademia  della 
Crusca  :  "  I  fatti  sou  maschi  e  le  parole  sou  femmine  :  proverb. 
e  vale  die  '  Dove  bisognano  i  fatti,  le  parole  non  bastano.' " 
It  should  be  remembered,  however,  that  mottoes  were  often 
so  worded  •s  to  bear  more  than  one  interpretation. 

The  Latin  inscription  is  from  Psalm  v.  12  (Vulgate).  The 
Authorized  Version  renders  it,  "  With  favour  wilt  thou  com- 
pass him  as  with  a  shield." 


68  MARYLAND: 

Holy  Trinity,  and  making  reproachful  speeclics 
against  the  Virgin  Mary,  Apostles,  and  Evan- 
gelists punishable  by  fine,  it  lays  penalties  upon 
all  who  shall  call  others  by  reviling  names  on 
account  of  religious  differences,  such  as  heretic, 
Puritan,  Jesuit,  papist,  and  the  like ;  "  and 
whereas  the  enforcing  of  the  conscience  in  mat- 
ters of  religion  hath  frequently  fallen  out  to  be 
of  dangerous  consequence,"  "  and  the  better  to 
preserve  mutual  love  and  amity  among  the  in- 
habitants of  the  Province,"  no  person  professing 
belief  in  Jesus  Christ  shall  be  "  in  any  ways 
troubled,  molested,  or  discountenanced  for  or  in 
respect  of  his  or  her  religion,  nor  in  the  free 
exercise  thereof,"  under  heavy  penalties  for  all 
so  offending.  Profanation  of  the  "  Sabbath  or 
Lord's  day,  called  Sunday,"  by  swearing,  drunk- 
enness, unnecessary  work,  or  disorderly  recrea- 
tion is  also  forbidden. 

In  the  wording  of  this  act  we  see  evident 
marks  of  a  compromise  between  the  differing 
sentiments  in  the  Assembly.  It  is  not  such  an 
act  as  a  body  of  zealous  Catholics  or  of  zealous 
Protestants  would  have  passed,  nor,  in  all  prob- 
ability, did  it  come  up  to  Baltimore's  idea  of 
toleration.  But  it  was  as  good  a  compromise 
as  could  be  made  at  the  time,  and  an*imraense 
advance  upon  the  princij)les  and  practice  of  the 
age.     In   reality,   it   simply   formulated   in    a 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  69 

statute  what  had  been  Baltimore's  policy  from 
the  first.  The  charter  neither  enforced  nor 
forbade  toleration,  but  left  the  Proprietary's 
hands  free.  It  provided,  according  to  the  usual 
phrase  of  charters,  that  the  Christian  religion 
should  sustain  no  detriment ;  and  it  permitted 
him  to  have  churches  consecrated  according  to 
the  ecclesiastical  laws  of  England ;  but  it 
neither  compelled  him  to  do  this,  nor  forbade 
him  to  have  them  consecrated  according  to 
other  rituals,  if  he  were  so  minded.^ 

Baltimore  was  no  indifferentist  in  matters  of 
religion.  That  he  was  a  sincere  Catholic  is 
shown  by  the  fact  that  all  the  attacks  upon  his 
rights  were  aimed  at  his  faith,  as  the  most  vul- 
nerable point.  That  he  was  a  papist,  and 
Maryland  a  papist  colony,  a  nursery  of  Jesuits 
and  plotters  against  Protestantism,  was  the  end- 
less burden  of  his  enemies'  charges.  He  had 
only  to  declare  himself  a  Protestant  to  be  placed 
in  an  unassailable  position ;  yet  that  step  he 
never  took,  even  when  ruin  seemed  certain. 
But  he  was  singularly  free  from  bigotry,  and 
he  had  had  bitter  knowledge  of  the  fruits  of  re- 
ligious dissension  ;  and  he  meant  from  the  first, 
so  far  as  in  him  lay,  to  secure  his  colonists  from 
them.      His   brother   Leonard,  and  those   who 

1  We  have  already  sgen  that  one  of  the  first  acts  of  the 
missionaries  was  to  consecrate  a  Catholic  chapel. 


70  MARYLAND: 

were  associated  with  him  in  the  government, 
shared  his  spirit,  and  from  the  foundation  of 
the  colony  no  man  was  molested  under  Balti- 
more's rule  on  account  of  religion.  Whenever 
the  Proprietary's  power  was  overthrown,  relig- 
ious persecution  began,  and  was  checked  so 
soon  as  he  was  reinstated. 

Before  Claiborne's  rebellion  we  scarcely  hear 
of  religious  differences:  the  records  bear  no 
trace  of  them.  Two  small  exceptions  that  are 
recorded  only  confirm  the  fact.  One  Lewis,  a 
Catholic,  rebuked  two  servants  for  reading  a 
Protestant  book,  and  spoke  offensively  of  Prot- 
estant ministers.  He  was  tried  before  the  Gov- 
ernor and  two  assessors,  fined  for  offensive 
"  speeches  and  unseasonable  disputations  on 
points  of  religion  contrary  to  the  public  procla- 
mation prohibiting  all  such  disputes,"  and 
bound  over  to  behave  better  in  future.  Thus  in 
1638,  eleven  years  before  the  Act  concerning 
Religion  was  passed,  the  principle  of  toleration 
was  enforced  and  placed  on  record ;  and  at  a 
still  earlier  date,  even  contentions  about  religion 
had  been  authoritatively  forbidden.  The  other 
case  was  in  1642,  when  a  Mr.  Gerrard,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Assembly,  and  a  zealous  Catholic, 
took  away  certain  books  and  a  key  from  the 
chapel  at  St.  Mary's,  apparently  on  the  ground 
of  some  claim  to  the  property.     The  Protest- 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  71 

ants,  who  seem  to  have  used  the  chapel,  peti- 
tioned against  this  proceeding,  and  Gerrai'd  was 
fined,  the  fine  to  be  appropriated  "  toward  the 
maintenance  of  the  first  minister  that  should 
arrive;  "  by  which  it  would  seem  that  down  to 
this  time  there  was  no  Protestant  clergj^man  in 
the  Province. 


CHAPTER  V. 

MARYLAND    UNDEE   THE   PROTECTORATE. 

The  execution  of  Cbarles  was  a  death-blow 
to  the  hopes  of  the  royalists.  That  Baltimore 
was  a  king's  friend,  thei'e  is  no  doubt ;  but 
from  the  first  he  had  taken  no  part  in  English 
politics,  and  it  may  be  that  he  foresaw  the 
downfall  of  the  royalist  cause  long  before  it 
came.  One  singular,  and  perhaps  apocryphal 
incident,  slightly  connecting  him  with  that 
great  tragedy,  has  been  preserved.  Shortly 
before  the  execution  of  the  King,  the  "  Close 
Committee  "  of  Parliament  held  a  secret  meet- 
ing, at  which  Baltimore  and  two  or  three  other 
Catholics  were  present,  and  sent  a  message  to 
Charles  in  prison  that  if  he  would  recede  from 
his  firm  stand,  and  own  himself  to  have  been 
in  some  measure  in  the  wrong,  they  would  save 
his  life,  and,  if  possible,  his  crown.  The  asso- 
ciation of  Baltimore  and  other  moderate  royal- 
ists (of  course  not  members  of  Parliament)  with 
themselves  was  probably  meant  as  a  guaranty 
of  their  sincerity ;  but  the  attempt  was  fruit- 
less.^    Baltimore's  attitude  toward  the  Parlia- 

1  Surtees  Soc.  Pubns.  Ixii.  347. 


THE  HISTORY   OF  A  PALATINATE.  73 

ment  was  wisely  taken.  That  body  certainly 
represented  for  the  time  the  will  of  the  major- 
ity, and  we  cannot  say  that  it  may  not,  in  some 
respects,  have  had  his  sympathy.  Be  this  as 
it  may,  to  assume  an  attitude  of  defiance  toward 
it  would  not  only  have  been  insensate  quixotism, 
but  would  probably  have  kindled  civil  war  in 
the  Province.  He  acquiesced  in  the  new  order 
of  things.  Stone  was  not  only  a  Protestant, 
but  known  to  be  a  friend  of  Parliament.  The 
oath  of  allegiance  was  no  longer  demanded,  and 
every  show  of  opposition  avoided.  The  leaders 
in  England  appear  to  have  had  no  ill-will  to- 
ward him,  and  for  a  while  it  seemed  that  the 
storm  would  leave  Maryland  untouched. 

Charles  II.,  in  1650,  being  then  a  fugitive  in 
the  island  of  Jersey,  was  pleased  to  consider  Bal- 
timore a  rebel,  and  granted  the  government  of 
Maryland  to  Sir  William  Davenant,  the'  poet. 
Davenant,  it  is  said,  actually  set  sail  for  the 
Province,  but  was  seized  in  the  British  Chan- 
nel by  a  Parliament  cruiser,  and  his  plans  and 
ambitions  brought  to  an  untimely  end. 

In  1650  the  Assembly  was  organized  in  two 
Houses,  the  Governor,  Secretary,  and  one  or 
more  of  the  Council  forming  the  Upper  House, 
and  the  Burgesses  the  Lower  ;  and  the  assent 
of  both  Houses  was  necessary  to  the  passage  of 
any  bill.     The  members  of  the  Upper  House, 


74  MARYLAND: 

being  appointees  of  the  Proprietary,  might  be 
trusted  to  guard  his  rights  and  interests,  and, 
being  men  of  experience  and  substance,  might 
be  expected  to  check  over-hasty  legislation  ; 
while  the  Burgesses  gave  expression  to  the  pop- 
ular will.  Though  this  severance  of  the  Houses 
gave  greater  freedom  to  the  Burgesses,  the 
Proprietary  not  only  confirnred  it,  but  forbade 
that  it  should  be  changed. 

The  temper  of  the  Assembly  seemed  good ;  a 
dispute  that  had  arisen  the  previous  session  on 
the  old  question  of  originating  laws  had  been 
settled  ;  an  Act  of  Oblivion  for  those  concerned 
in  the  late  rebellion  was  passed ;  and  an  Act 
fully  recognizing  the  Proprietarj^'s  rights  and 
the  benefits  the  colony  enjoyed  under  his  rule, 
was  placed  on  record  by  the  Burgesses  "  as  a 
memorial  to  all  posterit}^  of  their  thankfulness, 
fidelity,  and  obedience."  Compliance  with 
Claiborne  was  prohibited.  In  all  these  acts 
the  burgesses  from  Providence  concurred  ;  and 
that  settlement  was  erected  into  the  county  of 
Ann  Arundel,  so  named  from  the  Proprietary's 
wife. 

Now  this  settlement  at  Providence  was  a 
Puritan  settlement,  and  its  origin  was  this : 
In  1643  the  Virginia  Assembly  passed  a  law 
that  all  Nonconformists  should  be  expelled  the 
colony ;  and  in  the  following  years  many   of 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  75 

tliein  asked  and  obtained  leave  to  settle  in  Ma- 
ryland. Freedom  of  conscience  was  assured 
them,  and  nothing  demanded  of  them  but  obe- 
dience to  the  laws,  fidelity  to  the  Proprietary'-, 
and  the  usual  quit-rents  ;  conditions  which  they 
gladly  accepted.  They  settled  in  groups,  ap- 
pointed their  own  officers,  managed  their  affairs, 
religious  and  secular,  in  their  own  way,  sent 
burgesses  to  the  Assembly,  and  seemed  for  a 
while  content.  Their  largest  settlement  was 
on  the  Severn,  and  to  this  they  gave  the  name 
of  Providence,  in  acknowledgment  of  the  Hand 
that  had  guided  them  to  a  haven  of  safety  and 
rest. 

In  November,  1650,  Governor  Stone  being  in 
Virginia,  Greene,  his  temporary  deputy,  com- 
mitted the  strange  folly  of  proclaiming  Charles 
II.  as  heir  to  his  father's  dominions.  Stone 
quickly  returned  and  displaced  Greene,  and  no 
harm  seemed  to  have  been  done  ;  but  the  act 
was  treasured  in  tenacious  memories. 

Virginia,  however,  had  declared  by  the  voice 
of  her  Assembly  that  Charles  II.  was  King,  and 
had  denounced  the  penalty  of  death  against  all 
W'ho  questioned  his  right.  This  act  of  defiance 
could  not  be  overlooked  by  Parliament,  which, 
in  1650,  decided  to  send  a  fleet  to  reduce  that 
plantation  and  Barbadoes  to  submission.  INIary- 
land  was  threatened  at  the  same  time,  Ingle, 


76  MARYLAND: 

now  ill  England,  being  a  leading  spirit  in  the 
attack;  but  Baltimore  went  before  the  commit- 
tee and  produced  such  evidence  that  there  was 
no  revolt  in  Maryland  against  the  authority  of 
the  Commonwealth,  that  his  charter  was  con- 
firmed, and  the  name  of  that  Province  was 
stricken  out  of  the  instructions.  He  had  vigi- 
lant enemies,  however,  and  by  some  underhand 
means,  not  "  Maryland,"  but  "  the  plantations 
within  the  Chesapeake  Bay  "  was  inserted  in 
the  commission,  dated  September  26, 1651.  We 
have  not  far  to  seek  for  the  inspiration  of  this 
device,  when  we  find  Captain  William  Clai- 
borne named  as  one  of  the  commissioners,  and 
with  him  Richard  Bennett,  one  of  the  perse- 
cuted Puritans  who  had  sought  and  found  an 
asylum  in  Maryland,  and  taken  an  obligation 
of  fidelity  to  the  Proprietar}'.  Two  years  be- 
fore they  had  sent  a  declaration  to  Parliament 
that  Maryland  was  nothing  but  a  nursery  of 
Jesuits,  and  that  the  "poor  Protestants"  were 
everywhere  "  suppressed."  To  this  Baltimore 
answered  by  showing  that  the  Nonconformists, 
when  driven  from  Virginia,  had  found  a  safe 
refuge  in  Maryland. 

Virginia  being  reduced  to  submission,  the 
Commissioners,  after  appointing  Bennett  Gov- 
ernor and  Claiborne  Secretary  of  State,  turned 
their  attention  to  Maryland.     They  began  by 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  11 

displacing  Stone,  but  presently  reinstated  him 
to  govern  with  a  council  of  their  own  selection. 
For  the  future  the  inhabitants  were  to  take  the 
engagement  to  Parliament,  and  all  legal  proc- 
esses were  to  run  in  the  name  of  the  Keepers 
of  the  Liberties  of  England,  thus  effacing  the 
Proprietary's  rights.  Baltimore  took  legal  steps 
for  redress,  but  nothing  was  done  at  the  time. 

The  desirableness  of  uniting  Virginia  and 
Maryland  had  been  strongly  urged  upon  the 
authorities  in  England,  and  to  counteract  these 
intrigues  Baltimoi'e,  in  1652,  laid  before  the 
Commissioners  of  Plantations  a  paper  entitled, 
"  Reasons  of  State  concerning  Maryland."  He 
shows  that  each  plantation  can  be  made  a  check 
upon  the  other,  and  if  there  should  be  a  revolt 
in  either,  the  well-affected  could  find  a  refuge 
in  the  other  ;  that  the  Proprietary,  living  in 
England,  was  a  hostage  for  the  good  behavior 
of  his  colony  ;  that  Maryland  had  remained 
faithful  to  the  Commonwealth  when  other  plan- 
tations fell  off,  and  that  to  strip  him  now  of  his 
rights  would  be  a  discouragement  to  other  ad- 
ventures. 

These  arguments  were  really  sound,  and 
probably  had  weight,  as  we  hear  no  more  of 
the  union  of  the  colonies.  When  Cromwell,  in 
1653,  dissolved  the  Parliament,  and  caused 
himself  to  be  declared  Protector,  with  the  au- 


78  MARYLAND: 

thority,  if  not  tlie  title,  of  King,  the  Protec- 
torate was  publicly  proclaimed  by  Stone  in 
Maryland. 

This  act  of  Cromwell's  changed  the  whole 
situation.  At  one  blow  Parliament  and  Keep- 
ers had  gone,  and  with  them  the  authority  of 
every  official  who  derived  his  power  from  them. 
Cromwell  and  the  ai'my  were  all  the  govern- 
ment of  England.  And  Cromwell  was  as  anx- 
ious now  to  consolidate  his  power,  as  he  had 
been  eager  to  attain  it.  To  j^ut  an  end  to  all 
civil  dissensions,  to  "heal  and  settle,"  as  he 
phrased  it,  was  now  his  first  wish.  The  dis- 
putes between  Maryland  and  Virginia  were 
brought  before  him,  and  he  wrote  a  highly 
characteristic  letter  to  Bennett  and  Claiborne, 
promising  to  consider  the  matters  in  question, 
and  exhorting  them  in  the  mean  time  to  keep 
the  peace,  and  above  all  to  give  their  minds 
earnestly  to  religion. 

Baltimore  now  thought  it  time  to  take  a  de- 
cisive move.  His  patent  stood  firm.  There 
was  no  reason  why  lie  should  not  hold  the  same 
rights  under  the  Protectorate  that  he  had  for- 
merly held  under  the  Crown  ;  and  this  theory, 
that  the  Protectorate,  as  legitimate  heir  or  as- 
signee of  the  Crown,  had  succeeded  to  all  its 
rights  and  obligations,  was  Cromwell's  own 
view.     With  the  authority  of  Parliament,  that 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A    PALATINATE.  79 

delegated  to  the  Commissioners  had  expired, 
and  Stone  in  his  ^jroclamation  had  expressly 
stated  that  the  Proprietary  government  existed 
by  virtue  of  the  charter,  and  was  held  under 
the  Protectorate.  Strong  in  this  position,  Bal- 
timore directed  Stone  to  exact  the  customary 
oath  of  fidelity  from  all  taking  up  lands,  and  to 
see  that  legal  process  ran  in  his  name  as  here- 
tofore. 

There  was  nothing  in  this  offensive  to  Crom- 
well or  England.  But  it  was  not  England's 
game  that  Bennett  and  Claiborne  were  play- 
ing, but  their  own.  They  mustered  a  force, 
partly  from  Virginia,  and  partl}'^  froju  JMary- 
land,  compelled  Stone  to  resign,  and  placed 
Captain  William  Fuller,  a  Puritan  of  Provi- 
dence, with  a  body  of  commissioners,  in  pos- 
session of  the  government. 

The  commissioners  now  went  to  work  and  is- 
sued writs  of  election  to  a  General  Assembly, 
writs  of  a  tenor  hitherto  unknown  in  INIaryland. 
No  man  of  the  Roman  Catholic  faith  could  be 
elected  as  a  burgess,  or  even  cast  a  vote.  The 
Assembly  obtained  by  this  process  of  selection 
justified  its  choice.  It  at  once  repealed  the 
Toleration  Act  of  1649,  and  enacted  a  new  one 
more  to  its  mind,  which  also  bore  the  title, 
"  An  Act  concerning  Religion  ;  "  but  it  was 
toleration  with  a  difference.     It  provided  that 


80  MARYLAND: 

none  who  professed  the  2)opisli  religion  could 
be  protected  in  the  Province,  but  were  to  be 
restrained  from  the  exercise  thereof.  For  Prot- 
estants it  provided  that  no  one  professing  faith 
in  Christ  was  to  be  restrained  from  the  exer- 
cise of  his  religion,  "  provided  that  this  liberty- 
be  not  extended  to  popery  nor  prelacy,  nor  to 
such  as  under  the  profession  of  Christ  hold 
forth  and  practice  licentiousness."  That  is, 
with  the  exception  of  the  Roman  Catholics 
and  the  Churchmen,  together  with  the  Brown- 
ists,  Quakers,  Anabaptists,  and  other  miscel- 
laneous Protestant  sects  aimed  at  by  the  third 
exclusion,  all  others  might  profess  their  faith 
without  molestation.  Surely  this  toleration 
might  have  been  expressed  in  briefer  phrase. 

Nor  were  they  satisfied  with  overthrowing 
the  Proprietary's  authority  and  persecuting  his 
fellow-believers  ;  they  attacked  his  territorial 
rights,  declaring  that  all  persons  who  liad 
transported  themselves  into  the  Province  were 
entitled  to  land  by  "^rtue  of  such  transporta- 
tion, and  might  take  it  up  at  pleasure,  without 
any  reference  to  Baltimore  or  his  officers. 

Baltimore  remonstrated  with  the  Protector, 
who  wrote  to  Bennett,  not,  as  before,  to  give 
his  mind  earnestly  to  religion,  but  to  cease,  and 
to  make  all  under  his  authority,  cease  from 
disturbing  the  Marylanders,  and   to   leave  all 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  81 

tilings  as  they  had  been  before  these  altera- 
tions. 

But  before  this  order  was  sent,  Baltimore, 
perhaps  apprised  of  Cromwell's  intentions, 
wrote  to  Stone  rebuking  him  for  his  too  ready- 
surrender,  and  directing  him  to  resume  his  of- 
fice. Stone  thereupon  bestirred  himself,  and 
gathered  a  force  for  an  advance  upon  Provi- 
dence, the  headquarters  of  the  Puritans.  Part 
of  his  men  marched  by  land,  and  part  went  by 
water,  until  they  reached  the  Severn  River, 
when  all  were  embarked  and  entered  the  har- 
bor on  the  evening  of  March  24,  1655.  Fuller 
assembled  his  party  and  advanced  to  meet  the 
Marylanders,  who  came  up  in  spirited  fashion, 
with  the  gold  and  black  flag  of  jNIaryland  fly- 
ing. Fuller's  force  was  about  175,  and  Stone's 
about  130.  But  Fuller's  party  had  been 
strengthened  by  two  merchant  ships  in  the 
river,  the  Golden  Lyon  of  London,  and  a  small 
trading-craft  from  New  England.  The  captains 
of  these  vessels,  being  Puritans,  readily  agreed 
to  help  Fuller,  and  opened  a  severe  fire  upon 
the  Marylanders  from  the  water  side,  while  the 
land  forces  attacked  in  front.  Stone's  party, 
thus  caught  between  two  fires,  was  defeated 
with  severe  loss,  and  surrendered  upon  promise 
of  quarter. 

Fuller  now  held  a   court-martial  upon  his 


82  MARYLAND: 

pi'isoners,  and  condemned  Stone  and  nine  otlierg 
to  death,  despite  his  promise  of  quarter.  Even 
an  appeal  to  the  Protector  was  disallowed,  and 
four  were  executed  in  cold  blood ;  but  at  the 
intercession  of  the  soldiers  and  of  some  humane 
women,  the  lives  of  Stone  and  the  survivors 
were  spared.  Stone,  who  was  wounded,  was 
kept  for  some  time  in  rigorous  confinement,  not 
even  his  wife  being  allowed  to  visit  him. 

The  victors  now  went  to  work  to  reap  the 
fruit  of  their  labors.  They  seized  the  records 
and  great  seal,  and  proceeded  to  confiscate  the 
property  of  the  opposite  party  and  to  behave  as 
in  a  conquered  land.  The  missions  among  the 
Indians  were  broken  up,  and  the  missionaries 
arrested  or  forced  to  fly.  From  the  letter  of 
1656  we  catch  a  glimpse  of  their  trials  :  — 

"  The  English  who  inhabit  Virginia  had 
made  an  attack  on  the  colonists  [of  INIaryland], 
and  the  Governor  and  others  surrendered  on  the 
assurance  of  their  lives ;  but  these  conditions 
were  treacherously  violated,  and  four  of  the 
prisoners  were  shot.  They  rushed  into  our 
houses  and  demanded  that  the  impostors,  as 
they  called  them,  should  be  given  up  to  slaugh- 
ter. By  God's  mercy  the  fathers  escaped,  but 
their  books  and  other  property  were  seized. 
With  the  utmost  hazard  they  escaped  into  Vir- 
ginia, where   they  still  are,  sorel}'  straitened, 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  83 

and  barely  able  to  sustain  life  ;  living  in  a  lit- 
tle low  hut,  like  a  cistern  or  a  tomb." 

About  this  time  we  note  the  first  appearance 
of  the  witchcraft  delusion  in  Maryland.  But, 
to  the  credit  of  the  Province,  that  cruel  super- 
stition took  no  hold,  and  the  few  charges  that 
were  brought  were  dismissed  as  false  and  mali- 
cious, though  still,  in  1669,  we  find  the  county 
commissioners  charged  to  inquire  into  "  witch- 
craft, enchantments,  sorceries,  and  magick  arts," 
as  well  as  into  "  fores  tailings,  engrossings,  and 
extortions."  One  conviction  is  found  in  1674, 
of  a  certain  Coman,  but  on  the  petition  of  the 
Lower  House  he  was  reprieved  by  the  Govern- 
or, and  no  instance  of  an  execution  for  this 
cause  has  been  discovered  in  the  records.^ 

There  were,  however,  at  least  two  trials  of 
parties  accused  of  hanging  witches  on  the  high 
seas,  and  the  report  of  one,  as  it  is  associated 
with  an  illustrious  name,  we  give  in  exact  tran- 
script from  the  original  record  of  the  Provincial 
Court.  The  complainant  was  the  great-grand- 
father of  George  Washington  :  — 

"  Whereas  John  Washington  of  Westmoreland 
county  in  Virginia  hath  made  Complaynt  agst.  Ed- 

1  With  perhaps  a  solitary  exception.  In  Kilty's  English 
Statutes  there  is  a  reference  to  an  execution  for  witchcraft  in 
1685,  but  as  the  records  of  that  year  are  lost,  we  are  unable 
to  verifv  it. 


84  MARYLAND: 

ward  Prescott,  raerch',  Accusin  the  s**  Prescott  of 
ffelony  unto  the  Gouerm'  of  this  Province.  AUeag- 
ing  how  that  hee  the  s'^  Prescott  hanged  a  Witch  on 
his  ship  as  hee  was  outwards  bownd  from  England 
hither  the  last  yeare.  Vppon  w"^"^  complaynt  of  the  s'^ 
Washington,  the  Gou'"  caused  the  s*^  Edward  Prescott 
to  bee  arrested  :  Taking  Bond  for  his  appearance  att 
this  Prouinciall  Court  of  40000'  of  Tob.  Gyulng 
moreover  notice  to  the  s'^  Washington  by  letter  of  his 
proceedings  therein,  a  Cojjie  of  w*^''  Y  w"^  the  s*^  Wash- 
ingtons  answere  thereto  are  as  followeth 

"  '  M""  Washington 

"  '  Vppon  yo''  Complaynt  to  mee  th*  M^  Prescott  did 
on  his  voyage  from  England  hither  cause  a  woman  to 
bee  Executed  for  a  Witch.  I  have  caused  him  to 
bee  apprehended  uppon  suspition  of  ffelony,  &  doe 
intend  to  bind  him  over  to  the  Prouinciall  Court  to 
answere  it  where  I  doe  allso  exspect  yo^  to  bee,  to 
make  good  yo''  Charge.  Hee  will  bee  called  upjion 
his  Tryall  the  4"'  or  5'^  of  Octob""  next  att  the  Court 
to  bee  held  then  att  Patux'  neere  IVP  fFenwicks 
howse.  Where  I  suppose  yo"  will  not  fayle  to  bee. 
Wittnesses  examined  iu  Virginia  will  bee  of  noe 
ualew  here  in  this  Case,  for  they  must  bee  face  to 
face  w'^  the  party  accused,  or  they  stand  for  nothing. 
I  thought  good  to  acquaynt  yo"'  w*"^  this,  that  yo" 
may  not  come  unprouided.  This  att  present  S''  is  all 
from  yo"^  ffreind 

"  *  JOSIAS   FFENDALL 
"'29tiiSeptembr' 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A   PALATINATE.  85 

"  '  Yo''^  of  this  29"'  instant  this  day  I  receaued.  I  am 
sorry  th*  my  extraordinary  occasions  will  not  permitt 
mee  to  bee  att  the  next  ProUinciall  Court,  to  bee 
held  in  Maryland  the  4"^  of  this  next  Month.  Because 
then  god  willing  I  intend  to  geet  my  yowng  sonne 
bajDtized.  All  the  Company  &  Gossips  being  all- 
ready  inuited.  Besides  in  this  short  time  Wittnesses 
cannott  be  gott  to  come  ouer.  But  if  M'  Prescott  be 
bownd  to  answere  at  the  next  Prouiuciall  Court  after 
this,  I  shall  doe  what  lyeth  in  my  power  to  gett  them 
ouer.  S""  I  shall  desyre  yo^  for  to  acquayut  mee 
whither  M''  Prescott  be  bound  ouer  to  the  next 
Court,  &  where  the  Court  is  that  I  may  have  some 
time  for  to  prouide  euidence,  &  soe  I  rest. 
"  '  yo""  ffreiud  &  Seru' 

"'John  Washington. 

'"30"!  of  Scptemb''  1659' 

"  To  w'^''  complaynt  of  John  Washington  the  s*^ 
Edward  Prescott  (submitting  himselfe  to  his  try- 
all)  denyeth  not  but  that  there  was  one  Elizabeth 
Richardson  hanged  on  his  ship  as  he  was  outward 
Bownd  the  last  yeare  from  England,  &  comming  for 
this  prouince,  neere  unto  the  Westerne  Islands,  by  his 
Master  &  Company  (Hee  hauing  appoynted  one  John 
Greene  for  th*  Voyage,  Master,  though  himselfe  was 
both  Merch*  &  owner  of  the  ship)  But  further  sayth, 
Th*^  he  w*''  stood  the  proceedings  of  his  s*^  Master  & 
Company,  &  protested  ag^'  them  in  that  business. 
And  that  thereuppon  both  the  Master  &  Company 
were  ready  to  mutinj-. 


86  MARYLAND: 

"  And  it  appearing  to  the  Court  by  the  Printed 
Custome  howse  Discliarge  &  Light-howse  Bills  or 
acquittances  produced  &  sheweu  by  the  s"^  Edw. 
Prescott  taken  or  gyuen  in  John  Greene's  name,  that 
the  s*^  Greene  was  master  for  th'  voyage,  &  not  Ed- 
ward Prescott.  And  noe  one  comming  to  prosequute, 
The  s*^  Prescott  therefore  prays  that  hee  may  bee  ac- 
quitted. 

"  Whereuppon  (standing  uppon  his  Justificaon). 
Proclamaon  was  made  by  the  SherifFe  in  these  uery 
words. 

"  O  yes  &c.  Edward  Prescott  Prisoner  att  the 
Bar  uppon  suspition  of  ffelony  stand  uppon  his  ac- 
quittal]. If  any  person  can  giue  evidence  against 
him,  lett  him  come  in,  for  the  Prisoner  otherwise 
will  bee  acquitt. 

"  And  noe  one  appearing,  the  Prisoner  is  acquitted 
by  the  Board." 

The  Virginians  were  again  vociferous  for  the 
destruction  of  Maryland,  now  reduced  to  ex- 
tremity, and  the  old  clamor  of  Claiborne  and 
hactenus  inculta,  the  cuckoo-cry  of  "  papists, 
Jesuits,  oppressors  of  the  poor  Protestants," 
were  again  dinned  into  the  Protector's  weary 
ears.  Once  more  the  question  was  referred  to 
the  Commissioners  for  Plantations,  and  with  it, 
"under  particular  reference  from  his  High- 
ness," Baltimore's  complaint  against  Bennett 
and  Claiborne  for  the  massacre  at  Providence, 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  87 

and  once  more   Baltimore's  rights   were   con- 
firmed. 

Baltimore,  before  the  decision  was  rendered, 
had  appointed  Captain  Josias  Fendall,  gov- 
ernor, with  a  body  of  Councillors ;  an  unfortu- 
nate choice  as  it  proved.  But  before  Fendall 
could  assume  the  government,  he  was  arrested 
by  Fuller,  and  only  released  on  his  pledge  not 
to  attempt  anything  against  the  Commission- 
ers, 

In  1656  the  Commissioners  of  Plantations, 
after  a  thorough  investigation  of  the  question, 
decided,  as  has  been  said,  in  Baltimore's  favor ; 
and  the  Proprietary  now  renewed  his  instruc- 
tions to  Fendall,  and  sent  out  his  brother, 
Philip  Calvert,  as  Secretary  of  the  Province. 
It  would  seem  as  if  Cromwell,  getting  to  under- 
stand the  rights  of  the  case,  brought  some  pres- 
sure to  bear  on  Bennett  and  Mathews,  another 
of  the  Virginia  Commissionei's  ;  at  all  events, 
their  policy  toward  Maryland  changed,  and 
Claiborne,  it  seems,  had  no  voice  in  the  matter. 
On  November  30,  1657,  Mathews,  being  then 
in  England,  made  an  agreement  in  Bennett's 
name  with  the  Proprietary  by  which  they  sur- 
rendered all  that  had  been  gained,  and  balked 
the  hopes  of  the  Virginians  when  they  seemed 
just  within  their  grasp.  Baltimore's  rights, 
both  sovereign  and  territorial,  were   fully   con- 


88  MARYLAND: 

ceded,  and  his  authority  was  reestablished 
throughout  the  Province.  A  general  amnesty 
■was  declared,  and  for  the  oath  of  fidelity,  so 
much  scrupled  at  by  those  who  disliked  oaths 
and  who  disliked  fidelity,  was  substituted  a  sim- 
ple obligation  to  submit  to  and  sustain  the  Pro- 
prietary's government.  Those  who  had  been  in 
arms  against  him  had  the  option  of  taking  this 
obligation,  or  quitting  the  Province  within  a 
year.  All  disputes  arising  from  the  late  dis- 
turbances were  to  be  referred  to  the  Lord  Pro- 
tector and  Council ;  and  no  one  was  to  be  dis- 
franchised, disabled  from  holding  office,  or 
disarmed  for  any  part  he  had  taken  in  the  late 
troubles.  The  legislation  of  the  interregnum 
of  course  fell  to  the  ground  ;  but  the  Commis- 
sioners even  took  pains  to  annul  the  most  char- 
acteristic of  their  laws,  by  inserting  in  the 
agreement  a  clause  that  the  Toleration  Act  of 
1649  was  to  be  made  perpetual.  No  mention 
was  made  of  Claiborne,  who  has  now  finally 
disappeared  from  Maryland  history,  though  we 
shall  hear  of  him  once  more  in  a  new  character. 
This  agreement  was  signed  and  sealed  on 
March  23, 1657-58,  and  thus  Baltimore's  strug- 
gle with  Virginia  and  the  Puritans  ended  in 
his  complete  triumph  and  reinstatement  in  all 
his  rights.  Every  engine  had  been  brought 
to  bear  against  him :  fraud,  misrepresentation, 


THE  HISTORY    OF  A   PALATINATE.  89 

religious  animosities,  and  force ;  and  each,  for 
a  time,  had  succeeded.  He  owed  his  triumph 
to  neither  violence,  fraud,  nor  intrigue,  but  to 
the  justice  of  his  cause,  and  his  wisdom,  con- 
stancy, and  patience. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE   DUTCH   ON    THE   DELAWAKE. 

What  precious  properties  Baltimore  had  dis- 
covered in  Fendall  that  he  should  select  him  to 
be  governor,  we  cannot  now  see  ;  but  his  choice 
may  have  been  guided  by  the  zeal  and  devotion 
which  he  had  displayed  in  the  late  troubles. 
Baltimore  also  gave  substantial  rewards  to 
others  who  had  proved  their  fidelity  and  suf- 
fered for  it ;  and  he  sent  particular  directions 
for  provision  to  be  made  out  of  his  own  rents 
for  the  widows  of  those  who  fell  at  Providence. 
They  were  charged  to  "■  let  him  know  wherein 
he  can  do  them  any  good,  in  recompense  of 
their  sufferings,  of  which  he  is  very  sensible ;  " 
and  he  promises  to  do  his  best  to  obtain  them 
further  redress  from  the  Protector  and  Council. 
To  remove  all  discontents,  those  who  had  taken 
up  lands  under  the  Commissioners  might  have 
them  confirmed  under  the  usual  conditions. 
So  complete  was  the  pacification  that  in  the 
Assembly  of  1669-60  we  find  Captain  Fuller 
and  others  of  the  Commissioners  taking  seats 
as  burgesses. 

And  now,  for  the  first  time,  provision  was 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  91 

made  for  admitting  foreigners  to  naturalisa- 
tion, and  placing  them  on  the  same  footing  as 
Britisli  subjects  ;  a  privilege  of  which  French- 
men, Dutch,  Swedes,  Germans,  and  others  be- 
gan to  avail  themselves  not  long  after. 

Fendall  opened  his  administration  with  active 
measures.  As  the  Indians  seemed  to  threaten 
trouble,  the  dissensions  in  the  Province  having 
made  them  bold,  the  whole  militia  system  was 
reorganised.  All  males  capable  of  bearing  arms, 
between  sixteen  and  sixt}^,  were  mustered ;  and 
of  these  the  ablest  were  enrolled  in  trained 
bands,  and  drilled  regularly  by  their  respective 
officers.  The  whole  force  was  organised  in  two 
regiments,  of  which  the  Governor  commanded 
the  first,  the  district  extending  from  the  Poto- 
mac to  the  Patuxent;  and  Colonel  Nathaniel 
Utie,  the  second,  from  the  Coves  of  Patuxent 
to  the  Seven  Mountains,  and  the  Isle  of  Kent. 
These  regiments  were  divided  into  companies, 
each  company  having  its  allotted  district ;  thus 
Major  Ewen  had  the  company  south  of  South 
River,  Captain  Howell  that  between  South 
River  and  the  Severn,  Utie,  as  his  special  com- 
pany, that  from  the  Severn  to  the  Seven  Moun- 
tains,^ and  Captain  Bradnox,  an  old  Claiborne 

1  The  Seven  Mountains  are  a  group  of  rather  conspicuous 
hills  on  Gibson's  Island,  at  the  mouth  cf  Magotliy  Kiver,  iu 
Ann  Arundel  County. 


92  MARYLAND: 

man,  Kent  Island.  Although,  by  an  agreement 
with  the  Indians,  in  1652,  the  English  were  to 
possess,  without  mcftestation,  the  land  between 
the  Choptank  and  the  Elk,  yet  there  seems  to 
have  been  as  yet  but  one  settlement  on  the 
Eastern  Shore,  near  the  Pocomoke. 

This  reorganisation  of  the  militia  soon 
brought  the  government  into  conflict  with 
the  Quakers,  of  whom  a  number  had  taken 
refuge  in  the  Province  from  the  persecutions 
in  New  England  and  Virginia.  These  pacific 
people  not  only  refused  to  bear  arms  for  their 
own  defence,  but  did  all  they  could  to  dissuade 
others  from  doing  so.  They  would  not  take 
the  juror's  oath,  nor  give  testimony  in  court ; 
and,  with  exaggerated  scrupulosity,  refused  the 
engagement  (no  longer  an  oath)  of  fidelity,  and 
persuaded  some  who  had  taken  it  to  renounce 
and  disown  it,  on  the  ground  that  "  they  were 
to  be  governed  by  God's  law  and  the  light 
within  them,  and  not  by  man's  law."  Two 
particularly  active  missionaries  of  the  sect, 
Thurston  and  Cole,  not  residents  of  the  Prov- 
ince, were  arrested  on-these  chai'ges.  Fendall, 
though  far  from  possessing  the  liberal  spirit  of 
Baltimore,  seemed  not  disposed  to  press  the 
matter  too  harshly  ;  though  it  was  evident  that 
men  who  not  only  openly  defied  the  laws,  but 
exhorted    others  to   defv   them,   could   not    be 


THE   HISTORY   OF  A   PALATINATE.  93 

allowed  to  remain  in  Maryland.  Thurston 
voluntarily  offered  to  leave  the  Province,  and 
he  was  permitted  to  do  so.  An  order  was 
passed  that  all  Quaker  "  vagabonds  and  idlers  " 
should  leave  iMaryland,  and  if  they  ventured 
to  return  should  be  whipped  from  constable  to 
constable  out  of  the  Province. 

On  this  order  Thurston  was  rearrested  the 
next  month ;  but  pleading  that  he  was  not 
liable  to  the  penalty,  as  the  order  applied  to 
such  only  as  returned  to  the  Province,  whereas 
he  had  not  yet  left  it,  his  plea  was  allowed. 
As  the  zealous  Thurston  was  treated  so  leni- 
ently, it  is  not  likely  that  more  inoffensive  per- 
sons met  with  more  severity  ;  and,  as  matter  of 
fact,  there  is  no  evidence  that  any  Quaker  was 
whipped  during  Fendall's  brief  rule,  the  only 
time  that  the  order  remained  in  force. 

Fendall  had  not  been  long  in  office  when  he 
began  a  course  of  intrigue,  apparently  with  the 
object  of  enlarging  his  own  power  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  Proprietary,  by  assuming  to  hold 
his  office  from  the  Assembly  itself,  thus  making 
Maryland  a  miniature  commonwealth,  of  which 
he  aspired  to  be  the  petty  Cromwell.  What 
influences  he  brought  to  bear  we  cannot  cer- 
tainly say,  as  he  woi'ked  in  the  dark  ;  but  his 
followers,  at  a  later  day,  pleaded  that  they  were 
deceived   by  false  representations,  and  did  not 


94  MARYLAND: 

understand  liis  funis.  At  tlie  session  of  March, 
1659-60,  the  plot  was  ripe,  and  the  first  move 
was  made. 

First,  the  Burgesses  sent  a  message  to  the 
Governor  and  Council,  stating  that  they  held 
themselves  to  be  a  lawful  Assembly,  without 
dependence  on  any  other  power,  and  asking  if 
the  Upper  House  had  any  objections  to  make  to 
that  view.  The  Upper  House,  in  reply,  asked 
if  by  "  lawful  Assembly  "  they^eant  that  they 
were  a  complete  legislative  body  without  the 
Upper  House  ;  and  if,  by  the  words  '■'-  without 
dependence,"  they  meant  that  they  were  inde- 
pendent of  the  Proprietary's  authority.  A 
conference  between  the  Houses  was  then  held, 
after  which  Fendall  declared  his  opinion  that, 
as  he  then  stood,  he  could  only  assent  to  laws 
provisionally,  until  the  Proprietary's  pleasure 
was  known.  But  that  he  verily  believed  the 
intent  of  the  patent  to  be  that  the  freemen 
assembled  should  make  the  laws,  which,  when 
published  in  the  Proprietary's  name,  should  be 
in  full  force.  That  was  what  he  understood 
to  be  the  real  meaning  of  the  clause,  that  the 
Proprietary  might  make  laws  with  the  assent 
of  the  freemen.  Councillors  Gerrard  and  Utie 
sided  with  the  Governor ;  the  Secretary  and  the 
rest  dissented. 

The  Burgesses,  led  apparently  by  one  Hatch, 


THE  HISTORY   OF  A   PALATINATE.  95 

of  Charles  County,  now  took  the  next  step. 
Tbey  notified  the  Governor  and  Council  that 
they  would  not  consider  them  an  Upper  House, 
but  they  might,  if  they  pleased,  take  seats  in 
the  Lower.  Apparently  they  did  not  see  that, 
as  the  councillors  were  appointed  by  Balti- 
more and  there  was  no  limit  to  their  number, 
this  arrangement  placed  it  in  his  power  to 
swamp  the  Assembly  with  his  adherents;  but 
it  is  pretty  plain  that  they  were  merely  carry- 
ing out  a  programme  laid  down  by  Fendall. 
After  some  discussion  as  to  the  organisation  of 
the  Assembly  on  this  new  footing,  Fendall 
agreed  to  their  terms.  He  was  to  be  the 
President  of  the  body,  but  the  Burgesses  re- 
tained their  Speaker,  who  had  the  power  to 
adjourn  or  dissolve  the  Assembly.  The  Secre- 
tary and  Councillor  Brooke  protested,  and  with- 
drew. Fendall  then  surrendered  his  commission 
from  the  Proprietary,  and  accepted  a  new  one 
from  the  Assembly.  The  whole  constitution  of 
the  Province  was  thus  overthrown,  the  Pro- 
prietary's entire  authority  was  swept  away,  and 
he  was  left  without  a  representative,  without 
an  executive  officer,  and  without  official  means 
of  communicating  with  his  colonists. 

Though  Fendall  and  the  rest  must  have 
known  that  they  were  sure  to  be  called  to  a 
sharp  reckoning  for  these  doings,  yet  they  went 


96  MARYLAND: 

on  as  if  tliey  were  assured  masters  of  the  posi- 
tion. They  repealed  all  previous  laws  and 
made  it  felony  to  disturb  the  government  they 
had  established.  Fendall  issued  a  proclamation 
forbidding  all  persons  to  own  any  authority 
save  what  came  directly  from  the  King  or  the 
Assembly,  thus  openly  renouncing  the  charter 
and  the  Proprietary's  government. 

Before  these  things  were  done,  Baltimore 
had  sent  out  orders  to  have  the  boundaries  of 
his  Province  surveyed,  and  all  the  inhabitants 
brought  within  his  jurisdiction.  This,  most 
likely,  was  owing  to  his  hearing  something 
about  the  Dutch  and  their  proceedings  on  the 
Delaware.  How  and  when  these  people  came 
to  Maryland  must  now  be  explained. 

James  I.,  whose  title  to  the  mainland  of 
North  America  rested  on  the  discoveries  of 
Cabot  sailing  in  the  service  of  Henry  VII., 
had,  in  1606,  divided  the  territory'  between  the 
London  and  Plymouth  Companies,  whose  joint 
boundaries  included  all  the  land  between  the 
thirty -fourth  and  forty -fifth  parallels.  The 
New  England  settlers,  however,  kept  well  to 
the  north,  and  the  Virginians  to  the  south,  and 
into  the  unsettled  space  between  them  the 
Dutch  dropped  in  1623. 

With  the  settlement  at  Manhattan  this  nar. 
rative  has  nothing  to  do.     But  the  Delaware, 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  97 

or  South  River,  as  the  Dutch  called  it,  attracted 
their  attention,  and  they  made  one  or  two  tran- 
sient lodgments  upon  it,  the  latest  of  which, 
at  "  Zwaanendal,"  on  the  Lewes  River,  came  to 
a  tragic  end  in  a  few  months,  the  settlers  being 
massacred  to  a  man  by  the  Indians  in  1631. 
So  at  the  time  of  the  issue  of  the  Maryland 
charter  there  was  not  a  European  living  on  the 
Delaware. 

In  1638  Sweden  caught  the  colonising  fever, 
and  a  party  of  adventurers,  learning  that  the 
shores  of  the  Delaware  were  unsettled,  sailed 
up  the  bay  and  river,  and  established  them- 
selves at  the  present  site  of  Wilmington,  where 
they  built  a  fort  and  named  it  Fort  Christina, 
in  honor  of  their  twelve-year-old  Queen,  tlie 
daughter  of  Gustavus  Adolphus.  The  Dutch, 
growing  alarmed  at  the  growth  of  this  colony, 
built  a  fort  in  1651  near  the  present  site  of 
New  Castle,  but  it  soon  had  to  surrender  to  a 
Swedish  man-of-war,  and  the  triumphant  Swedes 
gave  the  name  of  New  Sweden  to  the  west  bank 
of  the  Delaware.  But  in  1655  the  Dutch  took 
Forts  Christina  and  Casimir,  and  reduced  all 
New  Sweden,  which  they  divided  into  two  prov- 
inces, Altona  and  New  Amstel. 

But  Dutch  and  Swedes  had  been  squabbling 
over  land  which  belonged  to  neither,  and  to 
Governor  Alricks  of  New  Amstel,  Utie  was 
7 


98  MARYLAND: 

now  sent  to  notify  him  that  he  was  within  the 
limits  of  Maryland,  and  to  warn  him  that  the 
settlers  must  either  acknowledge  Maryland's 
jurisdiction,  quit  the  Province,  or  take  the  con- 
sequences, which  Utie  intimated  would  be  seri- 
ous. Alricks,  with  Beekman,  the  Governor  of 
Altona,  received  Utie  courteously,  but  expressed 
great  astonishment  at  his  message.  On  his  re- 
quiring an  immediate  answer,  they  pleaded  that 
the  matter  was  too  high  for  them,  and  that  the 
decision  rested  with  Parliament  and  the  States 
General  of  Holland. 

News  of  all  this  was  soon  carried  to  their 
chief,  the  doughty  Peter  Stuyvesant  at  Man- 
hattan, who  averred  that  Alricks  and  Beekman 
were  a  pair  of  poltroons  who  had  been  scared 
by  Utie's  bullying  talk,  and  sent  down  Martin 
Krygier,  a  man  of  war,  with  orders  to  take 
command,  put  the  South  River  militia  on  a  war 
footing,  and  seize  Utie.  Before  he  came,  hoW' 
ever,  Utie  was  gone.  The  Assembly  had  really 
no  intention  of  going  to  sanguinary  extremi- 
ties, but  merely  wished  to  give  the  Dutch  for- 
mal notice  that  they  might  not  at  some  future 
day  plead  adverse  possession. 

Stuyvesant,  not  knowing  but  that  a  serious 
attack  might  be  in  preparation,  sent  two  en- 
voys, Augustine  Herman  and  Resolved  Wal- 
dron,  to  the  authorities  of  Maryland  to  complain 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  99 

of  Utie's  proceedings  and  discuss  the  whole 
question  of  title.  All  the  arguments  were 
gone  over,  hactenus  inculta  included ;  and  the 
envoys  with  exemplary  gravity  trumped  the 
English  title  by  going  back  to  Columbus  and 
claiming  as  the  natural  heirs  of  their  old  tyrant, 
Spain.  As  neither  side  was  willing  to  concede 
anything  in  words,  or  ready  to  undertake  any- 
thing in  action,  the  upshot  was  merely  an  ex- 
change of  manifestos,  after  which  the  envoys 
departed,  Waldron  to  report  to  Stuyvesant,  and 
Herman  to  Virginia,  to  try  his  hand,  he  says, 
at  stirring  up  dissension  between  that  Province 
and  Maryland. 

But  the  state  of  affairs  in  Virginia  was  not 
what  it  had  been.  On  September  3,  1658,  the 
great  Protector  died,  and  the  leading-staff  soon 
fell  from  the  nerveless  hand  of  his  successor. 
The  people  of  England,  seeing  that  their  choice 
lay  between  government  by  the  army  and  the 
restoration  of  the  Stuarts,  wisely  chose  the  lat- 
ter, and  Charles  II.  was  proclaimed  amid  uni- 
versal rejoicings.  The  cavaliers  in  Virginia 
now  lifted  their  heads  once  more,  and  that 
staunch  royalist,  Berkeley,  always  the  friend  of 
Maryland,  was  again  governor. 

Herman,  we  may  conjecture,  did  not  find 
much  encouragement  there.  But  a  change  had 
come  over  the  spirit  of  the  Bohemian  surveyor. 


100  MARYLAND: 

He  had  come  out,  like  Balaam,  to  curse  the 
land,  and  now  that  he  had  seen  it,  he  was  in- 
clined to  bless  it  altogether.  In  more  prosaic 
phrase,  what  he  saw  of  Maryland  during  that 
journey  of  his  determined  him  to  make  it  his 
home ;  and  he  wrote  to  the  Proprietary,  offer- 
ing to  make  a  map  of  Maryland  —  now  more 
than  ever  needed  to  settle  boundary  disputes  — 
in  consideration  of  the  grant  of  a  manor.  Bal- 
timore agreeing,  Herman  took  up  some  five 
thousand  acres  on  the  Elk,  in  the  region  he 
had  traversed  on  his  way  from  New  Amstel, 
and  named  his  grant  Bohemia  Manor.  He 
applied  for,  and  received  letters  of  free  deniza- 
tion so  that  he  could  hold  land,  and  in  1666  he 
and  his  family  were  naturalised  by  the  first  act 
of  the  kind  passed  in  the  Province.  He  grad- 
ually increased  his  holding  to  twenty  thousand 
acres  or  more,  and  became  a  great  territorial 
magnate,  in  which  capacity  we  shall  hear  of 
him  again.  The  map,  by  no  means  a  bad  one, 
was  faithfully  produced  in  about  ten  years.  It 
contains  one  curious  feature  showing  how  lim- 
ited a  view  of  the  extent  of  the  western  conti- 
nent prevailed  as  late  as  1670.  In  the  north- 
west corner  of  his  map  is  a  representation  of 
the  Alleghanies  above  the  present  Cumberland, 
and  this  note  is  appended :  "  These  mighty 
high   and   great   Mountaines   trenching  N.  R 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.        lOl 

and  S.  W.,  and  W.  S.  W.  is  supposed  to  be  the 
very  middle  Ridg  of  Northern  America  and  the 
only  Naturall  Cause  of  the  fierceness  and  Ex- 
treame  Stormy  Cold  Winds  that  comes  N.  W. 
from  thence  all  over  this  Continent  and  makes 
Frost." 

When  the  news  of  Fendall's  treachery  reached 
Baltimore,  he  acted  with  promptness  and  en- 
ergy. He  at  once  dismissed  Fendall  and  ai> 
pointed  his  brother,  Philip  Calvert,  Governor 
in  his  stead.  He  also  obtained  from  the  King 
lettei's  commanding  all  to  acknowledge  and  sup- 
port his  government,  and  directing  Berkeley  to 
give  any  help  that  might  be  needed  in  bringing 
the  disaffected  to  reason.  Pardon  was  to  be 
granted  to  those  whom  he  had  misled  by  his 
false  statements,  but  Fendall  was  on  no  account 
to  escape  with  life.  Fuller  also  was  mixed  up 
in  it,  and  may  possibly  have  been  the  secret 
instigator  of  it  all ;  and  he,  too,  was  to  have  no 
mercy,  as  he  showed  none  to  the  men  murdered 
at  Providence. 

Some  have  fancied  that  they  saw  in  the  re- 
bellion of  Fendall  a  movement  for  popular  lib- 
erty, but  it  was  nothing  of  the  sort.  It  was  an 
intrigue  of  a  few  restless  and  ambitious  spirits, 
and  had  no  popular  foundation  at  all.  It  may 
have  been  an  abortive  imitation  of  the  action  of 
the  Virginia  Burgesses  in  1658.   The  only  incen- 


102  MARYLAND: 

tive  addressed  to  the  people  was  a  lying  state- 
ment that  the  Proprietary  had  resolved  to  lay 
an  export  duty  of  ten  shillings  a  hogshead  on 
tobacco.  Its  only  result,  if  successful,  would 
have  been  to  bring  the  Province  directly  under 
the  crown,  and  to  deprive  the  people  of  the 
franchises  of  their  charter.  At  this  time  the 
Proprietary's  rights  and  the  people's  liberties 
were  indissolubly  bound  together,  as  events 
hereafter  were  to  show. 

In  fact,  so  soon  as  Philip  Calvert  produced 
his  commission,  the  whole  plot  collapsed.  There 
was  no  resistance,  and  the  help  which  Governor 
Berkeley  was  ready  to  give  was  declined  with 
thanks.  Fendall  made  some  attempt  to  raise  a 
mutiny  in  Charles  County,  but  it  was  a  miser- 
able failure,  and  the  records  are  almost  con- 
temptuous in  their  silence.  He,  Gerrard,  and 
Hatch  surrendered  themselves  to  justice,  were 
tried  at  the  Provincial  Court,  found  guilty  of 
treason,  and  condemned  to  banishment,  wiih 
forfeiture  of  estates ;  but  on  their  pleading  in 
a  rather  abject  manner  for  pardon,  the  lenient 
Governor  mitigated  the  sentence  to  a  fine,  with 
perpetual  disfranchisement,  and  security  for 
future  good  behavior.  Those  whom  Fendall 
had  di-awn  into  his  plot,  Utie  included,  were 
freely  pardoned  on  submission,  and  that  was 
the  end  of  the  whole  business. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A   PALATINATE.         103 

The  government  now  settled  itself  in  the 
form  which  was  never  after  disturbed  until  the 
Revolution.  The  charter  gave  the  Proprietary 
the  right  of  making  laws  with  the  assent  of  the 
freemen,  but  by  Baltimore's  concession,  the 
freemen  now  initiated  laws,  subject  to  his  as- 
sent or  dissent.  The  legislative  body  consisted 
of  the  Governor  and  Council,  sitting  as  an  Up- 
per House,  and  the  elected  Burgesses,  or  dele- 
gates, sitting  as  a  Lower  House.  But  the 
charter  also  gave  the  Proprietary  or  his  repre- 
sentative the  right  to  enact  ordinances,  under 
certain  restrictions,  which  should  have  the 
force  of  law ;  and  this  was  done  by  the  Gov- 
ernor and  Council,  sitting  as  a  Council,  in 
which  form,  also,  they  transacted  executive 
business. 

Thus  the  powers  of  government  were  distrib- 
uted in  this  wise  :  the  executive  was  the  Gov- 
ernor, acting  with  advice  of  his  Council,  and 
through  his  appointed  officei'S  ;  the  legislative, 
the  two  Houses  of  Assembly  and,  to  a  limited 
extent,  the  Governor  and  Council;  the  judici- 
ary, the  Provincial  Court  held  at  the  seat  of 
government,  the  various  coanty  courts,  and  the 
justices  of  the  peace. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

INDIAN   AFFAIRS. 

In  1661,  Charles  Calvert,  only  son  and  heir 
of  the  Proprietary,  was  sent  out  as  Governor, 
his  uncle,  Philip,  being  appointed  Deputy- Lieu- 
tenant and  Chancellor  of  the  Province.  Charles 
seems  to  have  lacked  the  firmness  and  constancy 
of  his  father,  but  he  possessed  a  full  share  of 
his  justice,  humanity,  and  thoughtful  care  for 
the  interests  of  the  Province,  which  prospered 
during  his  administration. 

The  relations  of  the  colonists  with  the  Indi- 
ans were  still  in  a  somewhat  unsettled  condi- 
tion. On  the  Western  Shore,  to  the  south 
(and  perhaps  also  to  the  north)  of  the  Patux- 
ent,  dwelt  various  tribes  belonging  to  the  Pas- 
eataway  confederacy,  and  these  were  friendly, 
and  indeed  to  a  certain  extent  subject  to  the 
English,  and  under  their  protection.  North  of 
the  Patapsco  and  at  the  head  of  the  bay  were 
the  Susquehannoughs,  who  seem  as  a  nation  to 
have  observed  treaties  pretty  well ;  though  we 
may  be  allowed  to  doubt  whether,  in  case  of 
hostilities,  they  would  rigidly  have  observed 
that  clause  in  the  treaty  of  1652  which  required 


TEE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  105 

eacli  party  to  give  the  other  twenty  days'  notice 
before  beginning  operations.  To  the  north  of 
these  were  their  enemies,  the  fierce  Oneiclas  and 
Senecas,  of  the  Five  Nations,  and  the  Mingoes, 
who  often  made  incursions  upon  them,  and 
sometimes  cut  off  a  travelling  Englishman,  or 
plundered  an  outlying  farm.  On  the  Eastern 
Shore,  about  the  Wighcomico,  were  the  Wico- 
meses,  whom  the  Proprietary  had  once  the  odd 
fancy  of  gathering  into  a  manor  and  making 
copyholders.  Here  were  the  Assateagues  and 
their  allies,  against  whom  the  Virginians  in 
1659  wished  to  engage  the  Marylanders  in  an 
expedition  ;  but  the  invitation  was  declined  on 
the  ground  that  the  Virginians  had  stated  no 
cause  of  complaint,  and  the  ]\Iarylanders  for 
their  part  had  none.  Here  too  were  the  Nanti- 
cokes,  a  brave  people,  who  gave  the  colony 
much  trouble  at  times,  and  a  remnant  of  whom 
survived  to  a  date  almost  within  memory. 

Characteristic  notes  of  dealings  with  these 
tribes  are  scattered  through  the  records.  When 
a  plantation  is  plundered  or  hogs  killed,  or, 
as  sometimes  happens,  a  settler  is  slain,  the 
Pascataways  readily  give  up  the  offender  to 
justice,  while  the  Susquehannoughs  usually  as- 
severate that  it  was  the  Mingoes'  or  Senecas' 
doings,  not  theirs,  and  that  they  are  behaving 
in  an  altogether  exemplary  manner. 


106  MARYLAND: 

In  lOGO  there  came  a  grand  embassy  from 
Uttapoingassinem,  the  new  emperor  of  Pascat- 
away,  bringing  a  present  to  the  Governor,  and 
desiring  the  continuance  of  the  peace  made 
with  his  predecessor.  The  Governor  asked 
whether  the  emperor  obtained  the  dignity  by 
succession  or  election  ;  upon  which  the  chief 
ambassador,  the  emperor's  brother,  expounded 
the  matter  as  follows  :  — 

"  Long  ago  there  came  a  king  from  the  East- 
ern Shore  who  ruled  over  all  the  Indians  now 
inhabiting  within  the  Province,  and  also  over 
the  Patowmecks  and  Susquehannoughs,  whom, 
for  that  he  did  as  it  were  embrace  and  cover 
them  all,  they  called  Uttapoingassinem.  He 
dying  without  issue,  made  his  brother  king  af- 
ter him,  after  whom  succeeded  his  other  broth- 
ers, after  whose  death  they  took  a  sister's  son  ; 
and  so  from  brother  to  brother,  and  for  want 
of  such  to  a  sister's  son.  The  government  thus 
descended  for  thirteen  generations  without  in- 
terruption until  Kittamaquund's  time,  who  died 
without  brother  or  sister,  and  appointed  his 
daughter  to  be  queen;  but  the  Indians  with- 
stood it  as  being  contrary  to  their  custom ; 
whereupon  they  chose  Wahucasso,  the  late 
emperor,  who  was  descended  from  one  of  Utta- 
poingassinem's  brothers.  Wahucasso  at  his 
death  appointed  this   other   Uttapoingassinem 


TBE  HISTORY  OF  A   PALATINATE.  107 

to  be  king,  being  descended  from  one  of  the 
first  kings.  This  man,  they  said,  was  jan  jan 
wizous,  which  in  their  language  signifies  a  true 
king ;  and  they  would  not  suffer  us  to  call  him 
tawzin,  which  is  the  style  they  give  to  the  sons 
of  their  kings,  who  by  their  custom  are  not  to 
succeed,  but  only  brothers  or  sisters'  sons." 

Here  we  are  brought  in  sight  of  that  remark- 
able principle  of  reckoning  descent  through  the 
female  line  only,  which  prevailed  throughout 
the  North  American  tribes ;  and  which,  whether 
considered  as  indicative  of  high  regard  for  lin- 
eal descent  combined  with  rather  loose  moral- 
ity—  the  parentage  of  the  mother  being  cer- 
tain, and  that  of  the  father  uncertain  ;  —  or  as 
a  survival  of  customs  dating  from  the  earliest 
ages  of  mankind,  is  one  of  the  many  interesting 
problems  connected  with  these  singular  peo- 
ples. 

This  emperor's  reign  was  but  brief,  as  he 
died  in  1662 ;  and  in  pursuance  of  an  embassy 
sent  by  the  confederacy.  Governor  Charles  Cal- 
vert and  suite  went  to  Pascataway  to  take  part 
in  the  election  of  a  new  emperor,  by  the  kings 
and  chiefs  assembled  for  that  purpose.  After 
long  council  held,  the  kings  presented  as  their 
choice  a  boy  of  eleven,  son  of  the  late  emperor. 
This  seeming  contrary  to  their  custom,  they  ex- 
plained that  their  emperors  were  chosen  from 


108  MARYLAND: 

two  families,  this  youth  being  of  one,  while  of 
the  other  family  there  was  a  maiden  to  whom 
they  proposed  to  marry  him,  thus  securing 
succession  through  a  female  of  royal  blood. 
They  submitted  their  wishes  to  the  Governor, 
asking  his  approval  and  the  assurance  of  his 
protection  to  the  young  prince.  He  answered 
favorably,  and  warned  them  that  if  the  new 
emperor  died  suddenly  or  under  suspicious  cir- 
cumstances, he  would  assuredly  hold  them  to  a 
strict  account.  Various  ceremonies  followed, 
after  which  Wahucasso,  as  he  was  now  called, 
was  declared  emperor  of  all  the  tribes  of  Pas- 
cataway,  Chincoteague,  Potopaco,  and  Matta- 
woman. 

A  solemn  treaty  was  also  concluded  with  the 
Susquehannoughs,  at  Spesutia  Island,^  in  ]\Iay, 
1661,  which  may  be  given  in  brief  as  the  type 
of  all  these  treaties.  The  gathering  was  im- 
posing :  on  the  English  side  were  present  Gov- 
ernor Philip  Calvert,  Secretary  Coursey,  and 
the  Council ;  on  the  Indian  side,  the  most  illus- 
trious sachems  of  the  noblest  totems,  dressed, 
we  may  be  sure,  in  the  highest  style  of  bar- 
baric magnificence.  Chief  of  all  was  "  Dahada- 
ghossa  of  the  great  Torripine  family,"  that  is, 
of   the  Terrapin  or  Turtle   totem,   "  Saranga- 

1  Spes-Utia,  "  Utie's  Hope,"  so  named  by  its  owner,  Colonel 

Utie. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  109 

raro  of  the  Wolfe  family,  Waskandoqua  of  the 
Ohongeoguena  nation,  Kagoregago  of  the  Un- 
quehiett  nation,  Saroqundett  of  the  Kaiquari- 
ega  nation,  Uwhannieretea  of  the  Usququhaga 
[Cayuga?]  nation,  and  Waddenhago  of  the 
Sconondihago  nation."  ^ 

The  stipulations  were  that  each  contracting 
party  should  assist  the  other  in  war,  all  prison- 
ers to  be  delivered  to  the  English,  who  disap- 
proved of  torture.  The  English  were  to  send 
fifty  men  to  the  Susquehannoughs  to  build  them 
a  block-house  on  scientific  principles  (which  was 
done  at  the  precise  northern  boundary  of  the 
Province,  under  40°  north  latitude).  Because 
of  the  difficulty  the  English  had  in  distinguish- 
ing members  of  one  nation  from  those  of  an- 
other, certain  places  were  appointed  for  those 
who  came  into  the  Province  to  repair  to,  and  a 
system  of  passes  for  sucli  as  wished  to  travel 
farther.  Any  parties  who,  by  pursuit  of  en- 
emies or  other  causes,  should  approach  an  Eng- 
lish house,  were  to  give  notice  by  shouting  and 
to  lay  down  their  arms,  which  the  English  were 
to  hold  till  their  departure.  Follow  the  hiero- 
glyphs of  the  chiefs. 

In   treaties   with   the   weaker   tribes   places 

1  The  names  are  given  as  they  appear  on  the  record.  They 
serve,  at  all  events,  to  illustrate  the  aliihabetic  struggles  of  our 
ancestors  with  barbaric  vocables. 


110  MARYLAND: 

were  appointed  where,  in  case  of  alarm,  the 
women  and  children  were  to  be  placed  under 
English  protection,  and  it  was  expressly  stipu- 
lated that  these  Indian  women  and  children, 
in  case  their  natural  protectors  were  killed, 
should  not  be  servants  to  the  English,  but  re- 
main free.  In  treaties  with  the  Susquehan- 
noughs  care  was  always  taken  to  include  the 
Pascataways,  "  who  are  under  our  protection." 
Thus,  with  the  exception  of  the  "  Jhonadoes  " 
(Oneidas  ?),  "  Cinagoes  "  (Senecas),  and  the 
Mingoes,  all  the  tribes  in  the  Province  were 
more  or  less  under  the  authority  and  guardian- 
ship of  Maryland. 

The  tribes  last  referred  to  were  not  only  un- 
friendly but  bold  and  aggressive.  There  were 
murders  committed  at  the  head  of  the  bay,  and 
on  the  Bush,  Gunpowder,  and  Patapsco  rivers, 
and  the  cries  of  the  bereaved  went  up  to  the 
Assembly.  Thomas  AUcock,  whose  wife  and 
child  were  murdered,  appeals  to  them  with  a 
passionate  vehemence  that  moves  our  sympathy 
to  this  day  :  "  Your  petitioner  hereby  throweth 
himself  with  the  blood  of  his  murdered  wife 
and  child  at  your  feet,  craving  justice;  which 
blood  he  humbly  begs  of  the  just  Judge  of 
heaven  and  earth  never  to  remove  from  your 
souls,  nor  the  souls  of  your  children's  children, 
till  it  be  satisfied." 


THE  U I  STORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  Ill 

D'Hiiioyossa,  now  Governor  of  New  Amstel, 
was  vehemently  suspected  of  conniving  at  these 
outrages,  if  he  did  not  instigate  them,  and  his 
behavior  was  certainly  ambiguous.  From  all 
these  causes,  so  strained  had  the  relations  with 
the  Dutch  become  that  a  council  was  held  to 
consider  the  expediency  of  making  war  upon 
them.  In  1659  Lord  Baltimore  had  empow- 
ered an  agent  in  Holland  to  demand  of  the 
West  India  Company  the  surrender  of  the 
lands  on  the  Delaware,  and,  on  their  refusal, 
sent  out  the  agent,  Captain  Neals,  to  the  Prov- 
ince, with  a  commission  authorising  him  to 
levy  men  and  make  war  upon  the  intruders  by 
land  and  water.  His  lordship  thought  that  the 
Virginians  and  New  Englanders  would  be  help- 
ful in  the  matter.  This  commission  now  came 
up,  in  consideration  of  the  subject ;  but  the 
Council  concluded  that  no  help  was  to  be  ex- 
pected from  the  Virginians  and  New  England- 
ers, and  that  Maryland  would  have  to  take  the 
risk  of  a  war  with  the  Dutch  West  India  Com- 
pany, and  perhaps  with  the  whole  force  of  the 
States  General,  which  it  was  not  able  to  bear. 
Moreover  there  were  doubts  whether  New  Am- 
stel was  or  was  not  within  the  fortieth  parallel, 
and  until  that  should  be  exactly  determined,  it 
was  well  not  to  be  too  hasty,  and  so  the  war 
was,  very  wisely,  deferred. 


112  MARYLAND. 

Troubles  at  the  north  were  followed  by 
troubles  at  the  south.  The  exact  situation  of 
Watkins'  Point,  which  marked  the  boundary 
of  the  Province,  had  for  some  time  been  in  dis- 
pute, and  commissioners  had  been  appointed  on 
both  sides  to  settle  the  matter.  Before  they 
met,  however,  Colonel  Edmund  Scarborough, 
one  of  the  Virginia  commissioners,  took  it  upon 
himself  to  reduce  the  lower  settlements.  His 
report  to  the  Governor  and  Council  is  an  amus- 
ing document.  He  was  evidently  a  past  mas- 
ter in  the  arts  of  bullying  and  wheedling,  and 
having  with  him  "  about  forty  horsemen,  for 
pomp  and  safety,"  ramped  around  among  the 
poor  Quakers  of  Manokiu  and  Annamessex, 
threatening  vengeance,  arresting  some,  and 
placing  "  the  broad  arrow  "  of  confiscation  on 
their  houses ;  while  to  others,  who  "were  loth  to 
forego  Maryland's  greater  freedom  of  trade,  he 
was  lavish  of  promises  of  equal  freedom  under 
Virginia.  In  mentioning  this  he  takes  care  to 
remind  the  Governor  and  Council  that  they 
need  not  hold  themselves  bound  to  perform 
what  he  had  promised  in  their  name.  Gov- 
ernor Berkeley,  however,  disowned  and  put  a 
stop  to  these  outrageous  proceedings,  but  con- 
tinued Scarborough  on  the  commission,  to 
Maryland's  injury  later. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

SPOLIATIONS   OF   MARYLAND   TEEEITORY. 

It  must  be  confessed  that,  compared  with  the 
other  colonies,  the  history  of  Mai*yland  seems 
rather  tame  and  uneventful.  Small  boundary 
disputes,  occasional  depredations  of  Indians,  a 
sputter  of  rebellion  now  and  then,  little  squab- 
bles in  the  Assembly,  these  are  the  only  events 
that  break  the  peaceful  monotony  of  the  rec- 
ords, which  are  dated  from  St.  Mary's,  or  St. 
Inigoes,  or  Mattapanient,  or  Resurrection  Manor, 
as  the  Governor  and  Council  moved  about  ap- 
parently with  much  the  same  motives  as  deter- 
mined the  good  Dr.  Primrose's  migrations  from 
the  blue  bed  to  the  brown. 

But  this  very  tameness  is  an  evidence  of  the 
modest  prosperity  of  the  Province,  which  grew 
steadily  if  not  rapidly,  and  attracted  men  of  all 
nations  as  well  as  all  creeds.  The  harsh  treat- 
ment of  the  Swedes  on  the  Delaware  —  "  that 
vile  gang,"  as  the  envoys  called  them  —  by  the 
Dutch,  who  wanted  to  force  them  to  settle 
above  the  mouth  of  the  Schuylkill,  sent  many 
hardy,  industrious,  and  frugal  colonists  into 
Maryland,  especially  in  the  years  1661-62. 


114  MARYLAND: 

Theoretically,  the  position  of  the  colonists 
was  almost  ideal.  Living  in  a  pleasant  climate, 
on  fertile  lands  held  at  the  easiest  rent,  making 
their  own  laws,  and  free  from  interference  or 
direct  taxation  by  Parliament  or  King,  no  con- 
dition of  prosperity  seemed  lacking.  Yet  there 
were  drawbacks,  and  serious  ones. 

One  of  these  was  the  over-production  of  to- 
bacco. This  had  long  given  trouble  in  many 
ways.  Men  planted  tobacco  when  they  should 
have  planted  corn,  and  men  took  to  planting 
when  they  should  have  been  plying  some  handi- 
craft. Thus  there  is  complaint  that  hides  can- 
not be  tanned  in  the  Province  because  the  tan- 
ners have  taken  to  growing  tobacco  instead  of 
practising  their  mystery,  whereby  tobacco  is 
made  cheaper  and  shoes  dearer.  The  legisla- 
tion of  the  colony  is  full  of  restrictive  and  regu- 
lating enactments,  either  alone  or  in  connection 
with  Vii'ginia  ;  times  of  planting  were  short- 
ened, planters  were  enjoined  to  grow  two  acres 
of  corn  for  each  member  of  their  households, 
and  other  expedients  were  tried,  to  little  pur- 
pose. 

Tobacco  was,  and  had  been  from  the  first, 
almost  the  sole  currency  of  the  Province  ;  all 
dealings  were  founded  upon  it :  debts,  rents, 
fines,  salaries,  levies,  all  were  paid  in  tobacco, 
and  in  tobacco  all  accounts  were  kept.     As  the 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.         115 

value  of  the  staple  continued  to  decline,  this 
became  a  serious  grievance,  and  endangered  the 
■welfare  and  almost  the  existence  of  the  colony. 
The  great  want  of  a  metallic  currency  was  rep- 
resented to  the  Proprietary,  and  measures  of 
relief  were  discussed  in  the  Assembly,  which 
body,  however,  was  much  in  doubt  whether  the 
charter  gave  the  Proprietary  the  right  of  coin- 
ing money,  and  whether  that  right  had  ever 
been  possessed  by  the  Bishops  of  Durham,  the 
amplitude  of  whose  powers  was,  to  a  certain 
extent,  the  measure  of  the  Proprietary's.  Bal- 
timore, however,  was  either  better  informed  or 
bolder,  and  in  1659  he  had  dies  cut  for  a  shil- 
ling, a  sixpence,  and  a  groat,  and  sent  out  speci- 
mens to  see  if  it  would  be  acceptable  to  the 
people,  in  which  case  he  could  furnish  as  much 
as  was  needed  ;  but  with  his  usual  sense  of  jus- 
tice he  writes  to  his  brother  that  "  it  must  not 
be  imposed  upon  the  people  but  by  a  law  made 
by  their  consent." 

On  October  4, 1 659,  information  having  been 
laid  before  the  Privy  Council  that  Baltimore 
was  coining  and  exporting  large  quantities  of 
silver,  a  warrant  was  issued  for  his  apprehen- 
sion, modified  the  next  day  to  a  simple  sum- 
mons to  appear  before  the  Commissioners  for 
Plantations  to  answer  the  charge.  Of  his  an- 
swer we  can  find  no  record,  but  it  was  proba- 


116  MARYLAND: 

bly  satisfactory,  as  tbe  matter  seems  to  have 
been  dropped.  It  is  perhaps  worth  noting  in 
this  connection  that  when,  in  1639,  Lord  Mal- 
travers  received  a  license  to  stamp  farthing 
tokens  to  be  uttered  in  the  plantations,  Mary- 
land alone  was  excepted ;  which  shows  that  this 
Province  was  regarded  as  standing  on  a  differ- 
ent footing  from  the  others. 

The  rebellion  of  Fendall  interfered  with 
Baltimore's  intentions  for  the  time ;  but,  in 
1661,  the  need  being  still  pressing,  the  Assem- 
bly passed  an  act  praying  the  Propi-ietary  to 
set  up  a  mint  in  the  Province.  Instead  of 
doing  this,  he  sent  out  a  supply  of  coin,  and 
the  Assembly  provided  for  its  circulation  by 
enjoining  every  householder  to  take  ten  shil- 
lings for  every  taxable  in  his  family,  paying 
in  tobacco,  at  twopence  per  pound.  The  Act 
of  Assembly  also  fixed  the  intrinsic  value  at 
about  ninepence  for  the  shilling,  so  that  its 
real  was  only  about  seventy-five  per  cent,  of 
its  nominal  value.  It  would  seem  as  if  Balti- 
more made  a  large  profit  by  this  emission,  and 
that  has  been  the  view  generally  taken  ;  but 
he,  on  his  part,  agreed  to  receive  it  for  rents, 
fines,  and  other  dues.  Now,  as  in  the  Province 
it  could  only  have  three  fourths  the  purchasing 
power  of  the  English  coinage,  its  natural  ten- 
dency must  have  been  to  flow  back  into  BaltJ 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  117 

more's  coffers  ;  and  this  is  probably  the  reason 
that  the  coins  are  now  so  extremely  rare,  though 
it  may  well  be  that  no  large  amount  was  ever 
in  circulation. 

Whether  much  or  little,  it  did  not  remedy 
the  crying  evil  of  over-production  of  tobacco. 
To  the  English  war  with  the  Dutch,  which 
closed  the  ports  of  Holland,  came  the  great 
plague  of  London,  which  kept  English  ships 
away  from  the  Province,  and  the  market  was 
choked  up  for  want  of  an  outlet.  The  matter 
caused  fierce  debates  in  the  Assembly,  the 
Upper  House  urging  a  cessation  of  planting, 
for  a  year  at  least,  and  the  Lower  House  ob- 
jecting that  this  would  ruin  the  poorer  plant- 
ers and  the  trade  of  the  Province,  without  any 
equivalent  benefit,  beside  seriously  impairing 
the  royal  revenues.  The  Burgesses  at  last  re- 
luctantly consented,  if  Virginia  and  Carolina 
would  join ;  and  an  agreement  to  that  effect 
was  come  to  between  the  Provinces,  but  it 
was  nullified  by  the  Proprietary,  on  the  same 
grounds  as  those  urged  by  the  Burgesses ;  and 
an  order  of  the  Privy  Council  peremptorily 
forbade  the  cessation.  Attempts  were  made 
to  encourage  the  planting  of  other  crops,  and 
the  King,  for  this  purpose,  took  the  duties  off 
hemp,  pitch,  and  tar. 

Still  more  disastrous  was  the  operation  of  the 


118  MARYLAND: 

Navigation  Act,^  restricting  the  commerce  of 
the  colonies  to  English  bottoms,  —  an  act  in- 
tended to  wrest  the  sceptre  of  the  seas  from 
the  Dutch.  The  policy  of  administering  the 
colonies  for  England's  advantage  alone,  which, 
in  a  hundred  years,  was  to  drive  them  to  revo- 
lution, had  long  been  innocuous  in  Maryland 
under  the  franchises  of  her  charter,  but  so  soon 
as  that  charter  was  held  in  abeyance,  her  rights 
were  invaded.  But  Charles  went  farther,  sup- 
ported by  his  Council  for  Foreign  Plantations, 
and  apparently  wished  to  exercise  in  the  colonies 
that  arbitrary  power  which  he  dared  not  try 
within  sight  of  the  window  of  Whitehall. 
He  decreed  that  the  main  articles  of  colonial 
produce  should  be  exported  only  to  England 
or  its  dependencies.  Thus,  despite  the  ex- 
press letter  of  her  charter,  ]\Iaryland,  like  the 
other  colonies,  was  shut  out  from  the  markets 
of  the  world,  and  not  even  allowed  to  develop 
a  carrying-trade  of  her  own.  The  colony  was, 
by  force,  kept  agricultural.  If  England,  by 
these  means,  became  the  empress  of  the  seas, 
it  was  the  colonies  that  paid  the  price  of  the 
imperial  crown. 

Of  course  there  was  contraband  trade,  by 
both  Maryland  and  Virginia,  with  the  Dutch, 
on  the  Delaware ;  not  to  a  sufficient  extent  to 

1  Passed  in  1651,  and  reenacted  after  the  Restoration. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.         119 

relieve  those  Provinces,  but  quite  enough  to 
irritate  England.  Governor  Calvert,  probably- 
foreseeing  that  the  Dutch  war  would  result  in 
the  seizure  of  the  disputed  territory  by  the 
crown,  tried  to  get  the  boundary  question  set- 
tled, and  in  1663  paid  a  visit  to  New  Amstel 
and  Altona,  where  he  was  courteously  received, 
but  accomplished  nothing  beyond  a  better  un- 
derstanding about  the  Indian  troubles. 

The  next  year  King  Charles,  either  from  his 
old  grudge  against  the  'Dutch,  or  because  he 
was  irritated  at  their  encroachments  to  the 
north  of  Manhattan,  took  the  business  into 
his  own  hands,  and  granted  to  his  brother 
James,  Duke  of  York,  the  land  west  of  the 
Connecticut  River  and  east  of  the  Delaware, 
and  James,  then  High  Admiral  of  England,  at 
once  sent  out  a  fleet  to  take  possession  of  his 
grant.  The  expedition  was  commanded  by 
Colonel  Richard  Nicolls  and  Sir  Robert  Carr; 
and  in  a  few  weeks  the  whole  Dutch  power 
was  overthrown,  and  the  conquered  territory 
taken  possession  of  by  the  Duke,  who  cared  as 
little  for  the  small  charter  of  Maryland  and 
its  solemn  pledges  as  he  afterwards  showed 
that  he  cared  for  the  Great  Charter  of  Eng- 
land. 

The  records  tell  us  little  of  interest  for  the 
next  few  years.     In  1667  a  dreadful  hurricane 


120  MARYLAND: 

swept  over  Virginia  and  Maryland,  and  did 
great  damage.  In  the  former  Province  it  was 
said  that  fifteen  thousand  houses  were  blown 
down,  and  four  fifths  of  the  tobacco  crop  de- 
stroyed ;  but  this  must  have  been  an  exaggera- 
tion. 

To  the  session  of  1669  the  Burgesses  —  Del- 
egates, they  were  now  called  —  seem  to  have 
brought  a  rather  discontented  and  refractory 
temper.  The  old  leaven  of  Puritanism  was 
working  among  them,  with  the  usual  result  of 
self-exaltation  and  resistance  to  established  or- 
der. A  preacher,  one  Nicholett,  who  perhaps 
imagined  himself  a  Hugh  Peters,  preached  them 
a  sermon,  in  which  he  magnified  their  office, 
telling  them  that  "  tbey  were  chosen  both  by 
God  and  man,  and  had  a  power  put  into  their 
hands ;  "  that  they  "  should  read  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  Commons  of  England,  to  see  what 
brave  things  they  had  done ;  "  and,  above  all, 
that  they  "  should  beware  of  the  sin  of  permis- 
sion," —  meaning  letting  things  alone  which  it 
was  in  their  power  to  disquiet.  Nicholett  was 
rather  a  brawler  than  a  fanatic,  for,  on  being 
called  to  account  by  the  Upper  House,  he  hum- 
bly acknowledged  his  fault,  and  asked  pardon 
on  his  knees,  and  so  came  off  with  a  fine  of 
forty  shillings. 

The  idea,  however,  that  it  was  a  House  of 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.         121 

Commons,  had  somehow  fixed  itself  in  the 
fancy  of  the  Lower  House,  and  it  next  pro- 
ceeded to  the  impeachment  of  one  of  its  own 
members,  on  the  testimony  of  a  single  witness, 
and  that  an  alien.  This  proceeding  the  Upper 
House  summarily  quashed,  dryly  pointing  out 
to  them  that  they  were  permitting  a  breach  of 
their  own  privileges,  of  which  they  were  so 
jealous. 

Next  the  Delegates  presented  a  paper  of  griev- 
ances, seven  in  number,  the  chief  of  which  were, 
that  there  was  no  person  in  the  Province  author- 
ised to  give  a  final  assent  to  laws ;  that  the 
year's  levy  was  oppressive  and  unlawful ;  that 
vexatious  informers  were  a  grievance,  and  at- 
torneys a  grand  grievance.  Tlie  Upper  House 
answered,  with  temper  and  firmness,  that  the 
Proprietary  must  retain  in  his  own  hands  the 
power  of  assent  to  laws,  since  his  authority 
rested  on  his  patent,  and  a  treacherous  or 
ignorant  deputy  might  confirm  laws  that  were 
breaches  of  the  patent,  and  thus  bring  about 
its  forfeiture.  As  for  the  levy,  that  was  for 
the  necessary  defence  of  the  Province  against 
the  Indians,  and  if  a  grievance,  it  was  one  of 
their  own  making,  since  the  act  for  raising  it 
had  been  passed  by  both  Houses.  As  to  at- 
torneys, they  were  a  useful  class  of  citizens,  in- 
dispensable, indeed,   to    those    who   could    not 


122  MARYLAND: 

attend  to  their  law  business  in  person,  and  if 
they  were  guilty  of  any  misfeasance,  there  was 
the  law  to  punish  them.  Vexatious  informers 
tliey  knew  of  none :  if  any  one  knew  of  any 
offence  or  malicious  practice,  and  gave  notice 
thereof  to  the  authorities,  he  did  but  his  duty, 
and  by  no  means  deserved  to  be  called  a  vexa- 
tious informer.  They  gave  the  Delegates  a  dry 
reminder  that  they  were  not  quite  a  House  of 
Commons,  as  they  seemed  to  think,  but  only 
held  their  places  in  virtue  of  the  charter,  and 
that  in  attacking  that  they  were  attacking 
themselves  ;  and  finally  exhorted  them  to  leave 
vain  brabblings,  and  attend  to  the  public  busi- 
ness, which  they  were  sent  to  do. 

The  Lower  House  was  still  malcontent,  until, 
after  messages  to  and  fro,  committees  of  confer- 
ence, and  the  usual  incidents  of  a  parliamentary 
squabble,  the  Upper  House  offered  an  ulti- 
matum :  to  expunge  the  offensive  votes  from 
their  journal  or  be  dissolved  by  the  Governor. 
At  this  they  yielded,  expunged  the  votes,  and 
harmony  was  restored.  More  than  this,  they 
joined  with  the  Upper  House  in  passing  an 
Act  of  Gratitude  to  the  Proprietary  "  for  the 
manifold  benefits  and  advantages  they  reaped 
from  his  lordship's  unwearied  endeavours  "  in 
behalf  of  the  Province,  in  testimony  whereof 
they  voted  a  free  gift  to  Governor  Calvert  of 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  123 

sixpence  per  hogshead  on  all  tobacco  shipped 
from  the  Province  for  a  year. 

The  many  bickerings  between  the  Houses,  of 
which  this  is  but  a  type,  seem  much  like  a 
tempest  in  a  teapot.  Yet  as  a  tempest  in  a 
teapot  is  an  interesting  and  instructive  study 
of  the  workings  of  natural  forces,  so  these  are 
illustrative  of  the  independent  spirit  of  the 
provincials,  and  the  jealous  care  with  which 
they  guarded  their  liberties.  The  Delegates 
were  in  the  wrong  here,  and  at  other  times, 
but  there  were  times  when  they  were  in  the 
right,  and  firmly  held  their  ground. 

About  this  time  we  catch  the  last  glimpse, 
or  almost  the  last,  of  the  poor  Pascataways. 
The  feeble  remnant  of  the  tribe  send  a  pathetic 
petition  to  their  old  friends  and  protectors,  the 
English,  in  the  name  of  "the  boys,  the  grown 
people,  the  women,  and  the  old  men,"  desiring 
a  continuance  of  friendship  and  peace.  They 
have  brought  no  present,  seeing  that  they  are 
dwindled  to  a  mere  handful,  and  "beg  that 
hereafter,  when  their  nation  may  be  reduced 
to  nothing,  they  may  not  be  scorned  and  chased 
out  of  the  English  protection."  The  Governor 
encouraged  and  comforted  them  as  best  he 
might,  assured  them  of  peace  and  friendship, 
and  "  that  we  should  not  scorn  or  cast  off  the 
meanest  of  them." 


124  MARYLAND: 

The  pledge  was  kept,  we  doubt  not ;  "but  it 
was  all  in  vain.  The  gentle  Pascataways,  tlie 
tenacious  Nanticokes,  the  bold  Susquehan- 
noughs,  and  the  ferocious  Iroquois,  had  played 
their  mysterious  part  in  the  tragedy  of  human- 
ity, and  had  to  make  way  for  other  actors  with 
other  destinies.  Happiest  they  who  passed 
softly  into  darkness,  like  the  Tayac's  harmless 
children. 

The  next  year  an  attempt  was  made  to  settle 
the  southern  boundary  of  Maryland,  and  Chan- 
cellor Philip  Calvert  and  Edmund  Scarborough, 
Surveyor  General  of  Virginia,  were  appointed 
to  run  the  charter-line.  The  presence  of  Scar- 
borough, of  whose  proceedings  we  have  already 
heard  something,  boded  no  good  to  Maryland. 
The  charter  called  for  a  line  running  east  from 
Watkins'  Point  to  the  ocean  ;  and  Watkins' 
Point  having  been  determined,  Scarborough  ran 
what  he  called  "  an  east  line "  to  the  seaside. 
Not  until  long  after  was  it  found  that  he  had 
run  it  so  far  to  the  north  of  east  as  to  give  Vir- 
ginia twenty-three  square  miles  that  did  not  be- 
long to  her.  This  was  the  first  spoliation  of 
Maryland's  territory,  and  but  a  trifle  to  what 
was  to  come. 

Another,  and  much  more  considerable  spolia- 
tion had  already  been  prepared,  by  ignorance 
of  the  geography  of  lands  which  no  white  man 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  125 

had  visited.  In  1649,  Charles  XL,  then  a  fugi- 
tive, granted  to  Lord  Hopton  and  others  the 
region  lying  between  the  Rappahannock  and 
Potomac  rivers,  to  be  held  under  the  govern- 
ment of  Virginia.  In  1669,  some  of  the  original 
grantees  having  died,  the  tract  was  regranted  to 
Lord  St.  Albans  and  others  ;  and  in  the  fourth 
year  of  James  II.,  the  whole  title  having  vested 
in  Lord  Culpeper,  it  was  confirmed  to  him  by 
the  crown,  and  was  brought  by  his  daughter 
and  heiress  to  Lord  Fairfax,  whom  she  married. 
There  was  nothing  in  this  grant,  as  it  stood, 
which  conflicted  with*  the  Maryland  charter. 
But  there  was  at  this  time,  and  for  many  years 
after,  an  uncertainty  as  to  what  was  the  first, 
that  is,  the  most  distant  fountain  of  the  Po- 
tomac ;  in  other  worJs,  whether  the  right  bank 
of  the  northern  or  southern  branch  of  that  river 
was  Maryland's  boundary  line.  Lord  Fairfax, 
who  did  an  extensive  business  in  granting  lands, 
settled  the  matter  to  suit  his  own  interests  by 
claiming  to  the  north  branch,  though  Maryland 
steadily  refused  to  allow  the  claim,  both  before 
and  after  the  source  of  the  south  branch  was 
proved  to  be  the  first  fountain.  As  Virginia, 
by  her  constitution  of  1776,  released  all  claim 
to  the  territory  within  the  charter-boundaries 
of  Maryland,  and  as  the  true  western  boundary 
was  at  that  time  well-known,  one  might  have 


126  MARYLAND. 

supposed  that  Maryland  would  then  get  her 
rights  ;  but  the  performance  did  not  come  up 
to  the  promise,  and  Virginia  steadily  refused  to 
give  up  the  land,  or  even  to  agree  to  give  it  up 
in  case  Maryland's  right  was  established.  At 
last,  in  1852,  the  Assembly,  by  a  generosity  for 
which  the  State  owes  them  small  thanks,  set- 
tled the  matter  by  conceding  to  Virginia  all 
that  she  asked,  and  thus  depriving  the  State  of 
half  a  million  of  acres  of  the  most  fertile  land. 
Thougb  the  agents  of  the  Duke  of  York  were 
occupying  Delaware,  he  had  no  grant  of  land 
west  of  the  river ;  and  Baltimore  was  anxious 
to  settle  that  part  of  his  province  and  confirm 
his  jurisdiction.  For  this  purpose  he  appointed 
a  surveyor-general  and  sent  him  to  determine 
the  northern  boundary  ;  he  erected  the  lands 
north  of  the  Horekill  to  the  fortieth  parallel, 
and  east  of  that  stream  to  the  sea,  into  Durham 
and  Worcester  counties,  and  offered  land  to  set- 
tlers at  half  the  usual  rent.  White,  the  sur- 
veyor, proceeding  to  New  Castle,  found  that  it 
lay  in  39°  30'  north  latitude,  and  notified  Love- 
lace, Governor  of  Manhattan,  now  New  York, 
to  that  effect. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

PEXN    AXD    HIS    TACTICS.      THE    ASSOCIATOES. 

In  1675,  Cecilius,  Lord  Baltimore,  died,  and 
was  succeeded  by  his  only  son,  Charles,  as 
third  Baron,  and  second  Proprietary  of  Mary- 
land. His  wisdom,  firmness,  justice,  and  mod- 
eration had  secured  his  own  rights  and  the 
franchises  of  his  colony  —  which  he  had  never 
seen^  —  against  the  attacks  of  foes  abroad  and 
at  home.  His  people,  though  sometimes  petu- 
lant, were  not  ungrateful,  and  at  least  thrice 
they  put  on  record  a  solemn  declaration  of 
gratitude  for  "  his  unwearied  care  to  preserve 
them  in  the  enjoyment  of  their  lives,  liberties, 
and  fortunes." 

Charles,  his  successor,  seems  to  have  had  his 
father's  prudence  and  justice,  but  not  his  quiet 
tenacity  of  purpose;  and  times  were  coming 
that  made  that  quality  more  than  ever  neces- 
sary.    A  part  of  his  territory  had  been  already 

1  It  may  be  convenient  to  remember  that  there  were  six 
Lords  Baltimore  and  six  Proprietaries  of  Maryland  ;  but  the 
first  lord,  George,  was  not  a  Proprietary,  and  the  last  Pro- 
prietary, Ileury  Harford,  was  not  a  lord.  Of  these  seven  per- 
sons, the  first,  third,  fifth,  and  seventh  visited  Maryland^  and 
the  second,  fourth,  and  sixth  did  not. 


128  MARYLAND: 

seized  by  a  royal  prince,  soon  to  be  king,  to 
whom  justice,  law,  and  plighted  faith  were 
empty  words.  His  enemies  were  busy  at 
court,  busy  in  Virginia,  busy  in  New  York, 
and  busy  in  Maryland  itself,  sending  home 
every  charge  that  ingenuit}^  could  devise.  The 
Protestants  (now  numbering  about  twelve  to 
every  Catholic)  ^  were  persecuted  and  in  peril ; 
religion  and  morals  were  in  a  parlous  state ; 
the  royal  revenues  were  defrauded  (this  was 
true,  and  so  were  the  Proprietary's)  ^  by  smug- 
gling at  the  head  of  the  bay,  and  so  forth. 
Even  Claiborne,  now  over  eighty  years  old, 
rouses  himself  for  the  moment  at  the  thought  of 
harm  to  be  done  to  Maryland,  and  appears  in 
the  last  of  his  many  characters.  The  royalist 
who  turned  parliamentarian,  the  Churchman 
who  turned  Puritan,  the  King's  officer  who  be- 
came Cromwell's  commissioner,  in  a  petition  to 

1  Lord  Baltimore  wrote  that  the  Nonconformists  in  Mary- 
land outnumbered  the  Churchmen  and  Catholics  together 
about  three  to  one,  and  that  the  Churchmen  were  much  more 
numerous  than  the  Catholics.  If  they  were  twice  as  numer- 
ous, the  proportion  of  Protestants  to  Catholics  was  eleven  to 
one.  A  letter  of  1681  estimates  them  as  thirty  to  one,  but 
this  seems  extravagant. 

2  The  Navigation  Act  of  1662  imposed  an  export  duty  of  a 
penny  per  pound  on  all  tobacco  shipped  to  other  than  Eng- 
lish ports  ;  and  a  provincial  law  in  1671  laid  a  tax  of  two 
shillings  a  hogshead,  half  for  the  public  charges  and  half  for 
the  Proprietary. 


THE  U I  STORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  129 

the  King  poses  as  an  old  broken  cavalier,  calls 
himself  "  the  old  servant  of  your  majesty's 
father  and  grandfather,"  and  speaks  of  Charles 
I.  as  "  your  father  of  glorious  memory."  The 
old  man  might  have  spared  his  white  hairs 
this  shame  :  his  petition  "was  unregarded,  and 
he  died  not  long  after  on  his  Virginia  estates. 
While  doing  justice  to  his  readiness  of  resource, 
and  indomitable  tenacity  of  purpose,  one  can- 
not but  wish  that  he  had  used  directer  methods, 
that  he  had  sailed  under  fewer  flags,  and  that 
"when  hard  knocks  "were  going,  he  had  stayed 
and  taken  his  share,  instead  of  slipping  off  to 
Virginia  and  leaving  others  to  do  the  fighting. 
About  the  same  time  a  Mr.  Yeo,  a  clergy- 
man, wrote  to  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury 
complaining  that  there  "was  no  established  min- 
istr}'  in  Maryland,  and  the  Privy  Council  in- 
quired the  reason  why.  Baltimore  replied  that 
all  forms  of  Christian  faith  "were  tolerated,  and 
every  denomination  supported  its  own  minis- 
ters ;i  that  the  Nonconformists  outnumbered 
Churchmen  and  Romanists  together  by  about 
three  to  one,  and  to  compel  them  to  support 
ministers   not  of  their  0"wn   faith   would  be    a 

1  One  instance  of  this  is  in  the  pious  foundation  of  "William 
Marshall  of  Pasquasecutt,  who  endowed   the  parish  {sic]  in 
1652  with  the  milk  of  three  heifers  forever  for  the  mainte- 
nance of  a  minister. 
9 


130  MARYLAND: 

burden  at  once  unjust  and  hard  to  impose. 
Virginia  complained  that  dues  were  exacted  of 
vessels  sailing  up  the  Potomac  ;  and  this  was 
answered  by  calling  attention  to  the  fact  that 
the  whole  Potomac  River  belonged  to  Mary- 
land, so  that  every  vessel  navigating  it  was 
within  Maryland's  jurisdiction. 

The  Susquehannoughs,  first  the  enemies  of 
the  colonists,  then  their  friends  and  wai'dens  of 
the  northern  marches,  had  for  years  been  weak- 
ening and  dwindling.  The  small-pox  had  made 
terrible  ravages  among  them,  and  had  so 
thinned  their  numbers  that  they  were  forced 
to  ask  help  from  the  English  against  their  old 
enemies,  the  Senecas  and  Cayugas.  But  these 
fierce  and  vindictive  tribes  still  harassed  them, 
and  in  1673,  after  a  crushing  defeat,  the  shat- 
tered remnant  of  the  tribe  fled  to  the  old  lands 
of  the  Pascataways,  near  the  Virginia  boun- 
dary ;  nor  were  they  safe  even  there  from  their 
relentless  foes,  who  made  forays  upon  them  from 
time  to  time. 

In  1675  several  Indian  murders  occurred  on 
both  sides  of  the  Potomac.  Suspicion  was  fixed 
on  the  Susquehannoughs,  and  a  joint  attack 
was  concerted  by  a  party  of  Virginians  under 
Colonel  John  Washington,  and  Marylanders  un- 
der Major  Thomas  Truman,  accompanied  by  a 
body  of  Indian  allies.     The  Susquehannoughs 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.         131 

were  in  an  old  fort  or  block-house,  and  this  the 
troops  surrounded.  A  parley  was  held,  at 
which  the  chiefs  solemnly  protested  their  inno- 
cence of  the  murders,  which  they  said  were  the 
work  of  a  party  of  Senecas ;  and  as  a  proof 
that  they  were  the  friends  of  the  English,  they 
showed  passes  and  a  medal  given  them  by  Gov- 
ernor Calvert.  Truman  professed  himself  sat- 
isfied of  their  innocence,  and  promised  to  pro- 
tect them,  but  the  Virginians  were  clamorous 
for  their  blood,  and  when  a  party  came  into 
camp  bringing  in  the  bodies  of  some  of  the 
murdered  settlers,  their  fury  could  no  longer  be 
restrained.  Truman  yielded,  and  five  of  the 
six  chiefs  who  had  come  out  under  an  assurance 
of  safety,  were  seized,  bound,  and  butchered, 
one  escaping. 

For  this  shameful  breach  of  faith,  Truman 
was  impeached  by  the  Delegates.  The  Upper 
House  confirmed  their  action,  and  requested 
them  to  draw  up  a  bill  of  attainder  against 
him ;  but  the  Delegates,  suddenly  slackening  in 
their  zeal,  were  for  a  fine  only,  which  the  Up- 
per House  indignantly  rejected,  as  little  bet- 
ter than  condonation  of  a  flagrant  crime  and 
breach  of  public  faith,  which,  on  all  accounts, 
deserved  exemplary  punishment.  As  neither 
House  would  recede,  Truman  went  unpunished, 
beyond  losing  his  seat  in  the  Council. 


132  MARYLAND: 

This  affair  had  serious  consequences  for  Vir- 
ginia. The  Indians  who  were  left  in  the  fort 
after  the  massacre  of  the  chiefs,  held  out  for 
more  than  a  month,  and  then  stole  off  by  night, 
crossed  the  Potomac,  and  made  their  way  to 
the  south,  killing  and  ravaging  as  they  went. 
Among  their  victims  was  an  overseer  of  Na- 
thaniel Bacon,  one  of  the  Council  of  Virginia, 
and  a  man  of  spirit  and  energy.  To  him  the 
Virginians  looked  as  their  defender,  and  the  re- 
sults led  to  that  tragic  series  of  events  known 
as  "  Bacon's  rebellion,"  in  Virginian  history. 

Fendall,  who  had  come  off  so  lightly  in 
1660,  had  not  given  up  the  hope  of  revenge, 
and  in  1681  we  find  him  intriguing  with  one 
John  Coode,  who  had  once  been  a  clergyman, 
to  create  some  disturbance  in  Maryland.  The 
details  are  not  clear;  but  it  seems  to  have  been 
a  plot  for  raising  a  revolt  of  the  disaffected 
with  the  help  of  a  party  of  Virginians.  Both 
were  arrested  and  tried  ;  Fendall  was  fined  and 
banished,  and  Coode,  the  more  dangerous  of  the 
two,  was  acquitted. 

The  Assembly,  taking  account  of  Baltimore's 
unwearying  exertions  to  promote  the  prosperity 
and  safety  of  the  Province,  offered  him  a  free 
gift  of  100,000  pounds  of  tobacco,  as  a  testi- 
mony of  "gratitude,  duty,  and  affection,"  but 
the  unselfish   Proprietary  declined  the  gift  as 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  133 

too  heavy  a  burden  on  the  people.  This  looked 
well ;  but  a  storm  was  gathering  far  worse  than 
Maryland  had  yet  encountered. 

The  Proprietary,  whatever  his  prudence,  hu- 
manity, and  equity,  was  always  at  a  disadvan- 
tacfe  with  his  colonists  as  the  adherent  of  a 
church  that  was  intensely  hated  and  feared  ; 
and  the  "  Popish  Plot  "  of  Oates  had  shown 
how  ready  men  were  to  believe  the  most  mon- 
strous fabrications,  and  rush  into  a  frenzy  of 
rase  and  terror.  Never  was  there  a  more  in- 
structive  lesson  of  the  deadly  power  of  words  : 
the  names  of  "  Papist "  and  "  Jesuit "  were 
enough  to  throw  the  people  into  delirium  in 
which  reason,  justice,  law,  and  humanity  were 
alike  forgotten  ;  and  in  Maryland,  as  in  Eng- 
land, there  were  always  men  ready  to  kindle 
the  people's  passions,  and  play  upon  their  fears, 
for  their  own  advantage. 

But  before  sketching  the  events  which  fol- 
lowed, we  will  go  back  a  little  to  touch  that 
small,  but  not  uninteresting  episode  in  the  his- 
tory of  Maryland,  known  as  the  settlement  of 
the  Labadists.  These  were  a  sect  of  Quietists 
or  Mystics,  founded  by  one  Jean  Labadie  or 
De  la  Badie,  a  Frenchman.  Labadie  was  an 
enthusiast  who  believed  himself  divinely  com- 
missioned to  restore  the  church  to  its  primi- 
tive purity  and  apostolic  gifts.     He  was  first  a 


134  MARYLAND: 

Jesuit,  then  a  rigid  Calvinist,  and  after  trying 
various  forms  of  religion,  none  of  wliicb  was 
quite  to  his  mind,  founded  a  sect  of  his  own. 
The  Labadists  believed  in  the  inward  illumi- 
nation of  the  Spirit,  and  professed  the  gift  of 
prophecy  ;  they  had  a  community  of  goods,  and 
held  peculiar  and  inconvenient  views  on  the 
subject  of  marriage. 

The  dangerous  antinomian  doctrines  of  this 
sect  caused  it  to  be  looked  on  suspiciously  by 
the  civil  authorities  of  Holland,  where  it  was 
founded,  and  after  various  expulsions  and  emi- 
grations the  community  found  a  resting-place 
at  the  village  of  Wiewerd  in  Friesland.  Grow- 
ing somewhat  straitened  for  room,  in  1679  they 
sent  out  two  missionaries,  Peter  Sluyter  and 
Jasper  Dankers,  to  America,  to  look  for  a  suit- 
able spot  to  plant  a  colony. 

These  missionaries,  whose  journal  is  still  ex- 
tant, landed  first  at  New  York,  where  they 
made  the  acquaintance  of  Ephraim  Herman, 
eldest  son  of  Augustine,  over  whom  they  soon 
established  an  influence,  and  finally  made  a 
convert  of  him.  As  they  were  looking  for  land, 
he  brought  them  down  to  Bohemia  JNIanor,  to 
see  his  father.  The  old  patriarch  was  sick, 
lonely,  and  unhappy  amid  his  wide  possessions 
—  now  about  twenty  thousand  acres  —  but  re- 
ceived them  with  kindness   and  countersigned 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.         135 

their  passports  that  tliey  might  travel  down 
the  peninsula.  Here,  and  on  their  journey 
down,  they  were  much  impressed  with  the  for- 
ests of  stately  trees,  the  fertility  of  the  soil, 
and  above  all  with  the  infinite  multitudes  of 
ducks  and  other  waterfowl  that  blackened  the 
creeks  and  coves.  A  boy  of  twelve  who  brought 
down  three  or  four  at  a  shot,  complained  of  his 
bad  luck,  as  usuall}^  he  killed  twelve  or  eight- 
een at  a  shot. 

Much  to  the  missionaries'  disgust,  they  fell 
in  with  some  Quakers  on  their  journey,  who 
gave  an  exhibition  of  the  singular  performances 
from  which  the  sect  derived  its  name.  After 
drinking  some  rum  the  Quakers  began  to  groan, 
and  were  then  seized  with  a  fit  of  quaking,  but 
nothing  came  of  it.  There  was  a  Quakeress 
with  them,  whom  they  call  "  the  great  proph- 
etess," who  "  travelled  through  the  wdiole  coun- 
try in  order  to  quake,"  which  she  did  at  dinner 
with  great  energy,  and  then  fell  to  shrieking. 
*'  The  Indians,"  they  say,  "  hate  the  Quakers 
very  much  on  account  of  their  deceit  and  covet- 
ousness."  Their  scorn  of  these  inoffensive  peo- 
ple—  "  miserable  Quakers,"  they  call  them  — 
who  held  doctrines  in  some  respects  not  unlike 
their  own,  is  amusing. 

The  toleration  of  Maryland,  no  doubt,  com- 
bined with  the  physical  advantages  of  the  coun- 


136  MARYLAND: 

try  in  determining  tlieir  choice  of  a  site,  and 
they  finally  returned  to  Bohemia  Manor,  where 
they  arranged  to  purchase  a  triact  of  some  three 
or  four  thousand  acres,  in  what  is  now  Cecil 
County,  and  then,  after  some  further  journeys, 
went  back  to  Wiewerd. 

In  1683  they  came  back  with  the  nucleus  of 
a  colony,  and  Herman — very  reluctantly,  for 
he  had  grown  angry  and  alarmed  at  the  influ- 
ence they  had  established  over  his  credulous 
and  pliable  heir,  who  had  forsaken  his  young 
wife  to  join  their  community  —  deeded  the  land 
to  them.  Sluyters,  who  contrived  to  merge  in 
himself  the  whole  title  to  the  land,  gradually 
made  himself  the  despot  of  the  little  commu- 
nity, and  ruled  it  in  hard  and  arbitrary  fash- 
ion, with  the  help  of  his  wife,  the  rest  being 
little  better  than  his  slaves.  They  were  indus- 
trious and  frugal,  but  their  peculiar  life  and 
doctrines  rendered  them  objects  of  dislike  and 
suspicion  to  all  their  neighbors.  In  1698  there 
was  a  partition  of  the  property,  Sluyter  retain- 
ing as  his  share  enough  to  make  him  a  wealthy 
man.  He  died  in  1722;  and  the  colony  in 
America  and  the  parent  community  at  Wie- 
werd seem  to  have  come  to  an  end  at  about  the 
same  time. 

The  settlements  on   the  Delaware  were,   as 
we  have  seen,  held  by  the  officers  of  the  Duke 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.         137 

of  York,  though  within  the  Maryland  gi'ant. 
As  the  whole  sovereignty  was  sure  before  long 
to  pass  into  his  hands  with  the  crown,  it  is 
likely  that  for  some  time  nothing  would  have 
been  done  to  disturb  the  existing  status,  but 
for  the  activity  of  a  favorite  of  the  Duke's, 
William  Penn.  Penn  had  obtained,  under  cir- 
cumstances which  do  not  here  concern  us,  a 
trusteeship,  which  he  improved  into  a  part 
ownership,  of  New  Jersey,  and  looking  to  the 
west  of  the  Delaware,  he  saw  the  land  that  it 
was  good,  and  longed  for  the  possession  thereof. 
It  so  happened  that  the  crown  owed  the  es- 
tate of  his  father.  Admiral  Penn,  some  .£16,000, 
which  it  would  not,  and  probably  could  not, 
pay,  so  William  proposed  to  accept  as  a  quit- 
tance a  province  west  of  the  Delaware  and 
north  of  Maryland.  A  copy  of  the  petition 
was  exhibited  to  Lord  Baltimore's  agents,  that 
they  might  report  if  in  any  way  it  encroached 
upon  his  rights  or  territory.  They  replied,  ask- 
ing the  Council  to  express  in  the  grant,  if  it 
should  pass,  that  the  southern  boundary  of  the 
territory  conveyed  should  run  north  of  the  Sus- 
quehannough  fort,  which  stood  under  40°  north 
latitude,  Maryland's  northern  boundary;  and 
als6  that  there  should  be  a  clause  inserted  sav- 
ing all  Baltimore's  rights.  This  letter  being 
submitted   to   Penn,  he  declared  himself   per- 


138  MARYLAND: 

fectly  willing  that  the  Susquehannough  fort 
should  be  the  northei-n  boundary,  and  was 
ready  to  comply  in  all  other  matters.  From 
so  fair-spoken  and  amiable  a  neighbor,  nothing 
was  to  be  apprehended,  and  the  charter  passed 
in  March,  1681,  conveying  to  Penn  a  tract 
bounded  on  the  east  by  the  Delaware  River, 
"  from  twelve  miles  northward  of  New  Castle 
town,"  on  the  north  by  the  parallel  of  43°  north 
latitude,  to  extend  westward  five  degrees  of 
longitude,  and  to  be  bounded  on  the  south  "by 
a  circle  drawn  at  twelve  miles  distance  from 
New  Castle,  northward  and  westward  to  the  be- 
ginning of  the  fortieth  degree  of  north  latitude, 
and  thence  by  a  straight  line  westward."  Noth- 
ing was  said  about  the  Susquehannough  fort. 

The  charter  was  much  the  same  as  that  of 
Maryland;  but  all  provincial  laws  were  to  be 
submitted  to  the  Privy  Council  for  their  assent, 
and  Parliament  reserved  the  right  to  levy  taxes 
on  the  colonists,  the  Attorney-General  consid- 
ering the  Maryland  charter  too  liberal  in  those 
respects. 

Penn  now  wrote  a  letter  to  Herman  and 
other  Marylanders  at  the  head  of  the  bay,  in- 
viting them,  with  an  abundance  of  fine  prom- 
ises, to  acknowledge  his  government,  cautioning 
them  to  pay  no  more  taxes  or  levies  to  Mary- 
land, with  a  covert  threat  of  his  "•  power  with 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  139 

his  superiors  "  in  England  in  case  of  their  con- 
tumacy, and  concluding  with  a  characteristic 
twang.  He  hopes  "  that  we  shall  all  doe  the 
thing  that  is  just  and  honest,  according  to  our 
respective  stations."  "  Which,"  he  adds,  "  is 
allwaies  wise." 

Having  dropped  this  seed  to  fructify  in  the 
minds  of  the  JNIarylanders,  he  appointed  Wil- 
liam Markham  to  go  out  as  deputy  governor, 
with  instructions  to  have  an  interview  with 
Baltimore  and  adjust  their  common  boundary. 
Markham  provided  himself  with  a  proper  sex- 
tant, and  found  to  his  surprise  that  Upland 
was  twelve  miles  south  of  40°  and  New  Castle 
twenty  miles.  After  this  discovery  he  used 
every  stratagem  to  avoid  meeting  Baltimore. 
Baltimore,  however,  weary  of  his  evasions, 
went  suddenly  to  New  Castle,  and  there  found 
Markham  and  his  sextant,  but  on  proposing  to 
take  an  observation,  some  of  the  glasses  had 
been  carried  off,  and  could  not  be  found.  An 
observation,  however,  was  made  with  another 
instrument,  much  to  Markham's  disgust,  who, 
finding  that  the  facts  were  against  him,  began 
to  take  high  ground  and  to  inquire  if  Balti- 
more meant  to  limit  the  King's  power,  and  so 
forth. 

In  the  mean  time  Penn's  seed  had  sprouted, 
and  the  settlers  in  Baltimore  and  Cecil  coun- 


140  MARYLAND: 

ties,  not  knowing  what  his  power  with  his  su- 
periors might  amount  to,  refused  to  pay  the 
year's  levies,  and  the  militia  had  to  be  called 
upon  to  support  the  sheriffs  in  their  collections. 

Penn  was  now  eager  to  obtain  a  further 
grant  from  the  Duke  of  York,  and  at  last  got 
from  that  prince  a  conveyance  of  New  Castle 
with  a  territory  of  twelve  miles  around  it,  and 
the  land  bounding  on  the  Delaware,  south  to 
Cape  Henlopen  ;  not  a  rood  of  which  belonged 
to  the  Duke  to  convey,  nor  was  even  in  his 
patents,  as  Penn  knew  perfectly  well.  Satis- 
fied now  in  mind,  Penn  came  out  with  a  body 
of  colonists  in  1682,  and  took  possession  of  Up- 
land, from  which  place  he  sent  polite  messages 
to  Baltimore,  asking  an  interview. 

The  interview  took  place  in  December.  A 
protocol  of  the  conference  is  preserved,  and  is 
a  curious  document.  After  various  unctuous 
protestations  of  friendship  and  good-will,  Penn 
proposed  that  Baltimore  should  determine  his 
northern  boundary  by  measuring  two  degrees 
of  latitude  north  from  Watkins  Point.  Balti- 
more replied  that  his  charter  gave  him  nothing 
by  degrees,  but  fixed  his  northern  boundary 
at  the  fortieth  parallel,  which  was  Penn's  south- 
ern boundary.  Penn  then  proposed  a  measure- 
ment from  the  capes,  which  were  "  anciently 
reputed  to  lye  within  the  latitude  37°  5'."  Bal- 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.         141 

timore  said  the  simplest  plan  was  to  take  a 
good  instrument  and  fix  at  once  the  fortieth 
parallel  ;  and  then  turning  on  Penn,  asked  him 
how  it  was  that,  whereas  formerly  Penn  had 
told  him  that  the  Duke  had  offered  him  Dela- 
ware, and  he  had  refused  it  because  he  knew  it 
was  Baltimore's,  now  he  had  taken  possession 
of  it  ?  Penn  begged  that  they  might  return  to 
their  former  discourse.  After  wearisome  itera- 
tion of  his  proposal  to  take  a  measurement  from 
the  capes,  Penn  broached  a  proposition  which 
makes  one  suspect  that  he  was  not  now  so  san- 
guine in  his  hope  that  all  would  do  the  thing 
that  was  just  and  honest.  It  was  that  Balti- 
more shouhl  take  his  southern  boundary  thirty 
miles  lower,  thus  robbing  Virginia  of  a  strip  of 
the  narrow  peninsula  for  the  sake  of  giving 
Penn  a  tract  reaching  from  the  Delaware  to 
the  meridian  of  the  first  fountain  of  the  Po- 
tomac. Naturally,  Baltimore  rejected  this  ex- 
traordinary suggestion,  that  he  should  not  only 
rob  himself,  but  break  the  eighth  command- 
ment and  his  charter  for  Penn's  benefit,  and 
the  conference  closed. 

In  May  they  met  again.  Baltimore  again 
proposed  an  observation  of  the  fortieth  parallel, 
taken  by  a  joint  commission  ;  Penn  insisted  on 
a  measurement  from  Watkins  Point.  At  last, 
being    pressed   hard   to    explain,    if    Watkins 


142  MARYLAND: 

Point  lay  in  38°,  wluit  advantage  could  be 
gained  by  measuring  two  degrees  instead  of 
taking  at  once  an  observation  at  40°,  the  truth 
bolted  out.  By  such  a  measurement,  he  said, 
"  out  of  every  degree  he  did  not  doubt  but  to 
gaine  six  or  seven  miles,  and  by  that  meanes  to 
gett  water  at  the  head  of  Chesapeake  Bay." 

There  was  the  secret.  He  wanted  an  outlet 
on  the  Chesapeake.  In  fact,  he  had  pledged 
himself  to  his  Society  for  Trade  that  the  head 
of  the  bay  was  within  his  boundaries.  Now  if 
Baltimore  would  rob  Virginia  for  his  benefit, 
he  would  be  most  thankful ;  but  if  not,  he 
would — gain  six  or  seven  miles  to  a  degree, 
and  "  doe  the  thing  that  was  just  and  honest," 
in  that  way. 

The  accession  of  the  Duke  of  York  as  James 
II.  now  gave  Penn  the  opportunity  of  showing 
his  "  power  with  his  superiors,"  and  the  expe- 
diency of  a  quo  ivarranto  began  to  be  urged. 
This  process,  however,  took  time,  and,  more- 
over, did  not  quite  answer  the  purpose,  for  the 
quo  warranto  touched  only  the  question  of 
jurisdiction,  and  this  Penn  never  possessed,  nor 
at  this  time  claimed,  in  Delaware,  for  which  he 
had  no  charter  but  only  a  grant  of  land.  So 
after  repeated  applications  on  Penn's  part,  the 
Privy  Council,  on  November  7,  1685,  reported 
that  the  peninsula  should  be  divided  between 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATIXATE.         143 

the  contestants  by  a  meridian  line  running 
north  from  the  latitude  of  Cape  Henlopen. 

The  extravagant  iniquity  of  this  decision  is 
apparent.  In  the  first  place,  as  has  been 
shown,  the  phrase  hactenus  inculta  was  not  a 
condition  of  the  grant.  Even  liad  it  been, 
there  was  no  settlement  upon  the  land  when 
the  charter  was  granted.  And  had  it  been 
otherwise  in  both  cases,  the  grantor  had  him- 
self explained  his  own  grant,  and  declared  that 
this  phrase  should  not  be  construed  to  impeach 
or  avoid  it.  But  perhaps  the  most  glaring 
iniquity  lay  in  the  double-dealing  in  the  matter 
of  the  Dutch,  When  they  did  come  later,  they 
■were  not  regarded  as  settlers,  but  lawless  inter- 
lopers, and  as  such  they  were  forcibly  reduced 
by  the  English.  In  a  word,  when  it  was  a 
question  of  dealing  with  the  Dutch,  they  were 
no  settlers  but  unlawful  intruders  ;  but  when 
it  was  a  question  of  robbing  Baltimore  to  grat- 
ify a  royal  favorite,  then  the  Dutch  were  set- 
tlers and  their  occupation  valid. 

James,  however,  did  not  press  either  the  for- 
feiture or  the  division  very  urgently,  having  a 
charter  or  two  to  break  on  his  own  account, 
and  notably  the  Great  Charter  of  England; 
and  meanwhile  a  writ  was  drawing  by  a  might- 
ier hand  than  Sawyer's,  summoning  him  to 
answer    by    what    warrant   he   disgraced   the 


14-1  MARYLAND: 

throne  of  Alfred  and  Elizabeth  ;  and  in  the 
stormy  pleadings  that  followed,  Penn's  soft 
whisper  passed  unheard.  Indeed,  in  1689, 
Penn  was  arrested  and  imprisoned  for  a  while 
under  suspicion  of  being  a  Jesuit  in  disguise. 

While  all  these  matters  were  pending,  the 
Proprietary  was  unfortunate  enough  to  incur 
the  severe  displeasure  of  the  crown  in  conse- 
quence of  the  rash  and  violent  act  of  one  of  his 
officers.  As  early  as  1669,  Cecilius  had  ap- 
pointed his  nephew,  Sir  William  Talbot,  Chief 
Secretary  of  Maryland.  Sir  William  had  a 
kinsman,  George  Talbot,  of  Irish  birth,  who  in 
1680  obtained  a  large  grant  of  land  on  the  Sus- 
quehanna, at  the  time  when  Baltimore  was 
anxious  to  get  the  northern  part  of  his  province 
settled.  In  1683  he  was  Surveyor-General  of 
the  province  ;  and  in  the  next  year,  when  Balti- 
more went  to  England,  leaving  his  son  Bene- 
dict Leonard,  a  minor,  as  nominal  governor, 
with  a  commission  of  deputy  governors  to  trans- 
act the  business  of  tlie  office,  Talbot  w^as  at 
the  liead  of  these.  He  seems  to  have  carried 
matters  with  a  pretty  high  hand  in  the  region 
about  the  head  of  the  bay,  where  he  built  a  fort 
not  far  from  New  Castle,  garrisoned  it  with  a 
band  of  Irish  retainers,  and  behaved  much  after 
the  fashion  of  a  warden  of  the  Scottish  marches 
in  the  old  border  times,  scouring  about  with  a 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  145 

troop  of  rangers  to  keep  the  Indians  in  check, 
and  occasionally  bullying  Penn's  settlers. 

Nothing  would  have  come  of  this,  had  not 
Talbot's  hot  Irish  blood  betrayed  him  to  a  deed 
of  violence  which  had  serious  consequences. 
Collectors  and  excisemen  have  in  all  lands  and 
times  possessed  a  singular  faculty  of  arousing 
the  old  Adam  in  all  with  whom  they  come  into 
contact ;  and  the  movements  of  the  royal  rev- 
enue collectors  in  Maryland  may  be  tracked 
through  the  records  by  wrath  and  execration. 
In  one  case  we  find  the  Council  denouncing  to 
the  Lords  of  Trade  the  proceedings  of  one  of 
these  gentry,  who  went  about  "insulting  over 
his  Majesty's  good  subjects  at  a  most  prodigious 
rate,  commanding  their  persons  at  his  pleasure, 
and  arbitrarily  pressing  and  taking  awa}'  their 
servants,  horses,  boats,  and  other  necessaries." 
Another  of  the  tribe,  a  certain  Christopher 
Rousby,  seems  to  have  had  more  than  the  av- 
erage share  of  the  official  characteristic,  and  to 
have  been  an  arrant  knave  to  boot.  Baltimore 
complained  of  him  to  the  King  ;  and  the  collec- 
tors made  the  counter-charge  that  he  was  ob- 
structing them  in  their  duties,  which  brought 
down  upon  the  Proprietary  a  sharp  rebuke, 
and  a  demand  for  ,£2,500  said  to  be  lost  to  the 
revenue  from  this  cause. 

In  1684  a  ketch  belonging  to  the  royal  navy 
10 


146  MARYLAND: 

came  to  St.  Mary's,  where  its  captain  indulged 
in  carousings  with  Rousby  and  the  other  collec- 
tors, while  treating  the  Provincial  authorities 
with  insolence.  Talbot  went  on  board  the  ves- 
sel, and  while  there  a  violent  quarrel  arose,  the 
sequel  of  which  was  that  Talbot  stabbed  Rousby 
to  the  heart.  He  was  at  once  seized  and  ironed, 
and  notwithstanding  the  efforts  of  the  Council 
to  have  him  tried  in  Maryland,  he  was  carried 
off  to  Virginia  and  delivered  to  the  rapacious 
Governor,  Lord  Howard  of  Effingham, ^  who 
treated  all  the  remonstrances  of  the  Mary  land- 
ers with  contempt.  In  his  bands,  Talbot's 
death  was  inevitable,  unless  he  could  offer  a 
mighty  bribe.  But  the  Proprietary  was  anx- 
ious that  his  kinsman  should  have  at  least  the 
chance  of  a  fair  trial ;  so  he  obtained  an  order 
from  the  Privy  Council  to  have  him  sent  to 
England. 

But  when  the  order,  dated  January,  1685 
(N.  S.),  reached  Virginia,  the  bird  was  flown. 
In  the  dead  of  winter,  Talbot's  devoted  wife 
and  two  brave  and  faithful  Irishmen  of  his  re- 
tainers sailed  down  the  bay  in  a  little  skiff  and 
up  the  Rappahannock  to  a  point  near  Glouces- 
ter, where  he  was  imprisoned.  Here  they  con- 
trived by  some  device  to  effect  the  release  of  the 

1  A  little  later  we  find  Howard  intriguing  with  the  Privj 
Council  to  have  Maryland  granted  to  himself. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  147 

prisoner,  and  carried  him  off  in  safety  to  his 
distant  manor.  The  hue  and  cry  was  pro- 
claimed throughout  the  Province  ;  and  so  hot 
was  the  pursuit,  according  to  local  tradition, 
that  Talbot  was  forced  to  secrete  himself  in  a 
cave  on  the  Susquehanna,  where  he  was  fed  by 
two  trained  hawks  which  brought  him  wild- 
fowl from  the  river.  However  this  may  have 
been,  he  soon  surrendered  himself  to  the  au- 
thorities, who,  after  some  delay,  delivered  him 
to  Effingham  ;  probably  not  until  they  knew 
that  the  Privy  Council  had  in  August  dis- 
patched orders  for  him  to  be  sent  to  England 
for  trial.  Effingham,  disregarding  this  order, 
still  kept  him  a  prisoner,  and  in  April,  1685,  he 
was  brought  to  trial  and  convicted.  In  the 
mean  time  the  Proprietary  had  not  been  idle  in 
his  kinsman's  behalf,  and  had  obtained  —  possi- 
bly through  the  influence  of  Tyrconnel,  but  the 
relationship  is  mere  conjecture  —  Talbot's  par- 
don from  the  King  in  time  to  save  his  life. 
Little  is  known  of  his  later  history  ;  but  it  is 
said  that  he  returned  to  England,  fought  on  the 
Jacobite  side,  and  afterwards  entered  the  French 
service  and  was  killed  in  battle. 

It  must  be  confessed  that  the  position  of  Bal- 
timore during  these  years  was  a  trying  one. 
While  he  was  in  the  Province,  Penn  and  his 
abettors  were  intriguing  against  him   in  Eng- 


148  MARYLAND: 

land,  and  when  he  was  in  England  both  his 
friends  and  enemies  in  Maryland  so  acted  as  to 
bring  his  government  under  the  suspicion  of 
the  crown.  The  revolution  of  1688  but  ag- 
gravated his  diiBculties.  A  sovereign  of  his 
own  faith  had  shown  no  regard  for  his  rights, 
and  a  Catholic  Proprietary  had  but  little  to 
hope  from  an  alien  monarch  who  took  the 
crown  by  revolution  and  because  he  was  the 
hereditary  foe  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  and 
who  conceived  that  the  stringent  compact  made 
with  him  by  those  who  placed  him  upon  the 
thi'one  absolved  him  from  all  other  engage- 
ments entered  into  by  his  predecessors. 

At  the  same  time,  some  change  in  the  rela- 
tions of  Maryland  to  the  mother  country  was 
unavoidable.  The  old  indifference  to  colonial 
rights  and  interests  still  existed  ;  but  not  so  the 
old  indifference  to  colonial  dominion.  England 
had  now  a  continental  policy  and  a  great  conti- 
nental war  on  hand,  the  extent  of  which  none 
could  foresee,  and  which  might  involve  a  strug- 
gle between  the  French  and  English  colonies  in 
America.  For  this  cause,  if  for  no  other,  it 
was  desirable  that  the  colonies  might  be  brought 
into  some  arrangement  which  would  secure 
promptness  and  unity  of  action,  if  necessary. 
The  Proprietary  governments  were  now  felt  to 
be  anomalies,  which  should  be  cleared  out  of 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.         149 

the  way.  Pretexts  were  near  at  hand  :  Penn, 
though  a  Protestant,  and  indeed  an  ultra-Prot- 
estant, had  been  a  favorite  of  James  ;  Balti- 
more, certainly  no  favorite  of  James,  was  a 
Romanist. 

All  things  at  this  time  seemed  to  conspire 
against  Baltimore.  Another  collector  was  killed 
in  the  Province,  and  though  it  was  merely  in  a 
private  brawl,  and  the  parties  were  brought  to 
justice,  it  had  a  bad  look.  Discontents  had 
arisen  on  account  of  certain  laws,  and  about 
election  matters.  Mr.  Joseph,  President  of  the 
Commission  of  Deputy  Governors  who  adminis- 
tered the  Province  during  the  absence  of  the 
Proprietary  and  minority  of  his  son,  was  a  fool- 
ish wordy  man  who  had  given  offence  by  his 
Jacobite  leanings,  his  high  notions  of  preroga- 
tive, and  by  insisting  that  the  Lower  House, 
some  of  whose  members  he  had  good  reason  to 
suspect,  should  take  the  oath  of  fidelity  a  sec- 
ond time,  which  they  refused  to  do.  The  news 
from  England  of  the  landing  of  William  and 
the  events  which  followed,  kept  men's  minds 
in  a  state  of  excitement  and  uneasiness. 

Upon  the  accession  of  William  and  Mary, 
Baltimore  at  once  sent  orders  to  have  them 
proclaimed  in  ^Maryland  ;  but  the  bearer  of  the 
dispatches  died  on  the  way,  so  that  after  proc- 
lamation had  been  made  in  Virginia  and  New 


150  MARYLAND: 

England,  Maryland  bad  not  officially  recog- 
nised the  new  sovereigns.  This  delay  caused 
suspicion  and  anxiety  among  the  colonists, 
many  of  whom  were  persuaded  that  it  was  in- 
tentional, and  part  of  a  popish  or  Jacobite  plot. 
Another  messenger  was  sent  out  with  the  proc- 
clamation,  but  the  mine  had  been  sprung  before 
he  arrived. 

In  March  a  rumor  was  started  that  the 
Catholics  had  entered  into  a  conspiracy  with 
the  Indians  to  murder  all  the  Protestants  in 
the  Province,  and  that  large  bodies  of  the 
savages  were  actually  moving  upon  the  settle- 
ments. At  the  mouth  of  the  Patuxent  those 
who  were  sent  to  inquire  into  the  matter  were 
told  that  a  massacre  of  settlers  had  begun  at 
the  head  of  that  river ;  and  messengers  being 
sent  off  in  haste,  found  the  people  there  arm- 
ing, because  they  were  told  the  Indians  were 
attacking  Mattapany.  A  number  of  the  lead- 
ing men,  Kenelni  Cheseldyn,  Speaker  of  the 
Lower  House,  Colonel  Jowles,  and  others,  cer- 
tainly most,  and  probably  all,  Protestants,  in- 
vestigated the  matter,  found  it  pure  fabrication, 
and,  to  quiet  the  people,  set  their  hands  to  a 
declaration  that  it  was  "  nothing  but  a  sleeve- 
less fear  and  imagination,  fomented  by  the 
artifice  of  some  ill-minded  persons,  who  are 
studious   and   ready   to   take   all   occasions   of 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.         151 

raising  disturbances  for  their  own  private  and 
malicious  interest." 

This  was  in  March,  but  in  July,  Coode,  who 
was  now  a  captain  of  militia,  Blakiston,  one 
of  the  collectors  of  customs,  and  a  bitter  enemy 
of  Baltimore,  and  some  others,  suddenly  ap- 
peared at  the  head  of  an  armed  force,  and 
marched  upon  St.  Mary's,  which  surrendered 
without  resistance.  Coode  and  his  party  now 
put  forth  a  declaration  of  their  motives  for  ap- 
pearing in  arms.i  It  is  a  string  of  general 
charges,  without  specific  allegations,  and  some 
quite  obviously  false,  in  which  the  words 
"  Papist "  and  "  Jesuit  "  are  made  to  do  full 
duty ;  and  particularly  charges  a  popish  plot  to 
massacre  the  Protestants,  with  the  help  of  the 
Indians.  And  this  paper  was  signed,  not  only 
by  Coode,  but  by  Cheseldyn  and  others  who 
had  solemnly  averred  that  these  rumors  were 
false  and  malicious.  But  Coode  had  fired  their 
ambition.  He  now  took  the  title  of  "  General," 
and  his  followers  were  all  to  have  high  dignities 
and  bask  in  the  sunshine  of  royal  favor. 

The  President  and  Council  took  refuge  in 
a  fort  at  Mattapany,  on  the  Patuxent,  where 
they  were  besieged  by  Coode,  and  soon  sur- 
rendered. 

^  It  was  printed  at  St.  Mary's,  by  Nothead,  the  printer 
of  the  Proviuce,  and  is  the  earliest  known  document  with  a 
Maryland  imprint. 


152  MARYLAND: 

Coode  coulil  not  but  know  that  what  he  was 
doing  was  neither  more  nor  less  than  high  trea- 
son, so  he  detained  all  vessels  bound  for  Eng- 
land until  he  had  had  time  to  prepare  an  address 
to  the  King,  in  the  name  of  the  Protestant 
inhabitants  of  Maryland,  declaring  -that  they 
had  taken  up  arms  in  defence  of  the  Protest- 
ant religion,  and  to  secure  the  Province  to  his 
Majesty.  William,  who  was  quick  to  see  his 
interest,  and  never  over-scrupulous,  sent  his  ap- 
proval of  what  they  had  done,  but  ordered  them 
to  await  his  further  commands.  Meanwhile 
the  Associators  called  an  Assembly,  or  at  least 
part  of  one,  opened  correspondence  with  the 
other  Provinces,  and  strengthened  themselves 
as  they  could,  but  apparently  did  nothing  to 
settle  and  establish  the  government. 

Was  this  really  an  uprising  of  the  people,  or 
was  it  the  work  of  a  few  factious  spirits,  the 
people  at  large  not  participating  ?  It  is  not 
easy  now  to  decide.  On  the  one  hand,  if  seven 
hundred  men  were  in  arms  under  Coode,  as 
some  say,  and  these  were  all  Marylanders,  that 
■would  intimate  a  pretty  strong  following.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  Protestants  at  this  time 
outnumbered  the  Catholics  in  the  proportion  of 
twelve  or  fifteen  to  one ;  and  though  it  was  all 
very  well  in  their  addresses  to  the  King  to  talk 
of  the  oppression  under  which  the  Protestants 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.         153 

groaned,  and  the  terror  in  which  they  lived,  in 
the  Province  it  must  have  been  known  that  this 
was  pure  fiction.  One  thing,  however,  we  must 
remember,  and  that  was  the  isolated  character 
of  the  settlements.  It  was  easy  to  alarm  the 
people  of  one  place  by  reports  of  what  was 
going  on  at  another,  and  thus  get  a  consider- 
able force  together  for  defence  against  purely 
fictitious  dangers.  It  is  on  record  that  Coode's 
force  came  near  disbanding  in  the  march  upon 
St.  Mary's,  and  were  hardly  prevailed  upon  to 
keep  together. 

Addresses  now  went  to  England  from  all 
the  counties  —  except,  singularly  enough,  Ann 
Arundel,  which  would  have  nothing  to  do  with 
Coode  —  expressing  warm  sympathy  with  the 
movement,  and  begging  William  to  take  the 
government  into  his  own  hands.  Counter- 
addresses  were  also  sent,  declaring  the  charges 
against  the  Proprietary  false,  and  Coode  and 
his  party  a  set  of  factious  knaves ;  but  the 
signatures  to  these  are  less  numerous  than  to 
the  others. 

The  fact  is,  that  all  these  documents,  on  both 
sides,  have  a  suspicious  look.  The  anti-Coode 
addresses  are  pretty  much  copies  of  one  an- 
other; those  on  Coode's  side  are  not  only  in 
his  clumsy  and  tumid  style,  but  ring  the  changes 
on  a  set  of  pet  phrases  which  occur  in  his  own 


164  MARYLAND: 

letter.  Add  to  this  that  a  number  of  the  sign- 
ers (many  of  whom  are  marksmen)  appear  on 
both  addresses.  On  the  whole,  it  seems  highly 
probable  that  both  sets  were  drawn  up  at  St. 
Mary's,  and  sent  in  haste  to  supporters  in  the 
counties,  who  procured  such  signatures  as  they 
conveniently  could,  and  added  themselves  the 
names  of  persons  whom  they  thought  likely  to 
be  favorable. 

For  a  while  the  Associators  had  things  all 
their  own  way,  and  carried  matters  with  a  pret- 
ty high  hand,  commissioning  officers,  imprison- 
ing not  only  Catholics,  but  Protestants  who 
disapproved  their  lawless  proceedings,  plunder- 
ing cattle  and  horses,  and  threatening  to  put 
to  death  all  who  opposed  them.  The  loss  of 
the  records  leaves  us  much  in  the  dark  as  to  the 
events  of  this  time,  but  it  does  not  appear  that 
there  was  any  bloodshed.  They  urged  William 
—  always  writing  in  the  name  of  the  Protest- 
ant inhabitants  of  Maryland  —  to  declare  the 
charter  forfeit;  and  William,  who  really  can 
hardly  be  blamed  for  taking  the  people's  fran- 
chises, when  they  seemed  so  eager  to  deliver 
them,  needed  no  urging.  In  1690  the  Attor- 
ney-General was  instructed  to  proceed  against 
the  charter,  by  way  of  scire  facias.  But  this 
took  time,  and  William  applied  to  Chief-Jus- 
tice Holt  to  know  if  he  could  not  take  the  gov* 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  155 

ernment  into  his  hands  without  all  this  tedious 
waiting.  Holt's  reply  must  have  caused  that 
usually  upright  judge  a  twinge ;  it  was  to  the 
ejffiect  that  it  would  be  better  if  an  inquisition 
were  held,  and  some  forfeiture  found ;  but  as 
that  had  not  been  done,  and  the  case  was  a 
pressing  one,  he  thought  the  King  might  take 
the  government,  and  the  investigation,  after  the 
fashion  of  Jeddart  justice,  might  be  made  after- 
wards. 

So  the  King  rose  up  and  took  possession,  and 
in  August,  1691,  Sir  Lionel  Copley  was  made 
the  first  royal  governor  of  Maryland.  The 
Commissioners  of  the  Privy  Seal  doubted  the 
legality  of  Lord  Holt's  decision,  and  refused 
to  confirm  the  commission  without  orders  from 
the  Council,  In  the  quo  warranto  case  the 
facts  alleged  could  not  be  proved,  and  no  judg- 
ment was  obtained.  But  William,  none  the 
less,  held  fast  to  the  Province. 

A  distinction  was  drawn  between  the  Pro- 
prietary's sovereign  and  his  personal  rights. 
He  had  no  longer  any  share  in  the  govern- 
ment ;  public  officers  were  appointed  by  the 
crown  or  its  delegates,  laws  received  royal  con- 
firmation, and  processes  ran  in  the  name  of 
William  and  Mary.  But  Baltimore's  terri- 
torial rights  were  respected  ;  he  retained  his 
quit-rents  and  his  ownership  of    vacant  lands, 


156  MARYLAND. 

liis  port-duty  of  fourteen  pence  per  ton  on  all 
foreign  vessels  trading  to  the  Province,  and  his 
one  half  of  the  tobacco  duty  of  two  shillings 
per  hogshead.  These  duties  were  disputed  by 
the  Assembly,  but  the  crown  confirmed  the 
Proprietary's  rights.  William  coveted  Balti- 
more's authority,  and  was  jealous  of  his  inde- 
pendence, but  he  did  not  covet  his  private 
property. 

Thus  Maryland,  from  a  free  Palatinate,  was 
reduced  to  the  condition  of  a  crown  colony; 
and  the  Proprietary,  from  being  a  prince  little 
less  than  sovereign,  sank  to  a  mere  absentee 
landlord. 


CHAPTER  X. 

MARYLAND   SOCIETY   IX    THE    SEVENTEENTH 
CENTURY. 

Down  to  this  time  the  history  of  Maryland 
has  been  little  more  than  the  history  of  the 
Proprietaries  and  the  charter,  and  of  the  at- 
tacks upon  both,  by  foes  external  and  internal. 
In  fact,  it  could  not  be  otherwise.  The  charter 
of  the  Province  was  the  bulwark  of  the  people's 
rights  and  liberties  ;  all  attacks  upon  them  had 
first  to  be  aimed  at  the  charter,  and  whether 
the  Proprietary  in  resisting  these  was  acting 
from  selfish  or  from  magnanimous  motives,  he 
was  equally  fighting  the  battle  of  his  colonists. 
Now  they  had,  with  their  own  hands,  made  a 
breach  in  their  fortress,  and  henceforth  they 
had  to  defend  themselves  against  the  crown  of 
England,  whose  little  finger  was  thicker  than 
the  loins  of  the  Proprietary. 

Maryland  history,  then,  in  the  seventeenth 
century,  is  the  history  of  attacks  upon  the 
rights  of  the  Proprietary ;  in  the  eighteenth  it 
is  the  history  of  invasions  of  the  liberties  of 
the  people.  Let  us  see  who  these  people  were, 
and  how  they  lived. 

In  the  first  place  they  were  a  people  of  farm- 


158  MARYLAND: 

ers  —  planters,  as  they  called  themselves,  the 
colonies  being  generally  known  in  England  as 
the  Plantations.  But  great  plantations  and 
manors  of  over  a  thousand  acres  were  compara- 
tively few,  and  the  law  prevented  the  accumu- 
lation of  vast  neglected  tracts  in  single  hands. 
Plantations  of  from  one  hundred  to  a  thousand 
acres  were  the  rule.  The  colonist  w^ho  brought 
over  only  his  pair  of  stout  arms,  took  up  fifty 
or  one  hundred  acres,  and  craftsmen  twice  or 
thrice  as  much.  The  prosperous  settler  might 
increase  his  holding  for  every  servant,^  male  or 
female,  he  brought  over,  and  when  at  the  end 
of  three  or  five  years  the  servant  became  a  free- 
man, his  former  master,  by  the  custom  of  the 
country,  gave  him  two  suits  of  clothing,  a  gun, 
necessary  tools,  and  a  hog  or  two,  and  he  might 
claim  a  farm  of  fifty  acres  by  the  conditions  of 
plantation.  Services  were  often  paid  in  land ; 
and  we  find  a  great  planter  on  the  Patuxent 
engaging  a  man  to  make  the  brick  for  his  new 
mansion,  and  giving  him  a  farm  as  part  of  his 

pay. 

Everybody,  high  and  low,  thus  living  on  his 
farm,  towns  could  not  grow.     St.  Mary's,  the 

1  It  has  already  been  shown  that  though  technically  ser- 
vants, these  were  by  no  means  necessarily  of  a  servile,  or  even 
a  humble  class,  but  that  many  of  them  were  "  persons  of  good 
rank  and  quality." 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.         159 

capital,  and  only  town  till  near  the  close  of  the 
century,  on  its  beautiful  plateau  in  tlie  arms 
of  St.  George's  River,  with  a  fine  harbor  in 
front,  and  land  behind  gradually  rising  almost 
to  hills,  seemed  marked  out  by  nature  for  the 
site  of  a  prosperous  commei'cial  city ;  yet  as 
late  as  1678  it  was  hardly  a  town  at  all,  but  a 
settlement  straggling  along  the  shore  for  five 
miles,  with  not  above  thirty  houses,  and  those 
"  very  mean  and  little,  and  generally  after  the 
manner  of  the  meanest  farm-houses  in  Eng- 
land." In  most  of  the  settled  parts,  there 
were  "  not  fifty  houses  in  the  space  of  thirty 
miles."  1 

The  reason  of  this  was  the  Chesapeake  Bay, 
which  shaped  the  whole  life  of  tidewater  Mary- 
land, and  gave  a  special  cliaracter  to  the  peo- 
ple. That  magnificent  sheet  of  water,  indent- 
ing the  shores  with  innumerable  river-mouths, 
coves,  creeks,  and  inlets,  gave  the  Marylanders 
boundless  facilities  for  intercommunication,  and 
made  the  town,  or  village,  as  a  common  rally- 
ing-point,  unnecessary.  The  planter  needed  no 
port  when  ships  from  London  or  Bristol,  Bos- 
ton or  Jamaica,  brought  wine,  sugar,  salt-fish, 

1  "  St.  Mary's  never  had  more  than  sixty  houses,"  writes 
one  in  1835,  "but  the  settlers  call  town  any  place  where  as 
many  houses  are  as  individuals  required  to  make  a  riot ;  that 
is  twenty."     Rec.  Eng.  Prov.  series  VII. 


160  MARYLAND: 

English  and  Dutch  wares  to  his  very  door,  and 
loaded  tobacco  and  maize  at  his  own  wharf. 
The  town,  St.  Mary's,  or  later,  Ann  Arundel, 
was  the  place  where  the  courts  were  held  and 
public  business  transacted,  but  it  was  nothing 
more.  The  town,  as  a  centre  of  political  and 
social  life,  was  not  known  in  Maryland. 

This  state  of  things  was  further  favored  by 
the  friendly  relations  with  the  Indians.  The 
occasional  attacks  from  the  northern  tribes 
were  small  affairs  at  the  worst,  only  disturb- 
ing the  outlying  settlements.  We  hear  of  hog- 
stealing,  and  now  and  then  of  a  murder  by 
southern  Indians,  but  the  offenders  were  seized 
and  handed  over  to  justice  by  the  "emperor" 
of  the  tribes,  who  was  not  merely  in  alliance 
with,  but  under  the  protection  of,  the  colon}^ 
and  the  friendly  relations  remained  undis- 
turbed. There  was  no  necessity  for  the  set- 
tlers to  huddle  together  for  protection. 

From  this  state  of  things  it  resulted  that 
while  the  sense  of  individual  freedom  was 
strong,  as  it  always  is  with  those  who  live  on 
and  from  their  own  lands,  the  political  spirit 
that  knits  men  together  for  a  common  purpose 
was  weak.  The  disturbances  in  Maryland  were 
never  popular  movements  in  the  sense  of  being 
the  acts  of  considerable  bodies  of  men  with  a 
common  grievance  and  a  definite  purpose ;  they 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.         161 

were  the  work  of  a  few  active  spirits,  who  took 
advantage  of  the  credulity  which  was  born  of 
this  isolation.  In  one  place  they  used  a  pre- 
tended Indian  invasion,  in  another  a  projected 
tax,  in  another  a  popish  plot,  to  awaken  alarm, 
and  for  the  same  reason  these  inconsistent  re- 
volts met  with  but  slight  resistance.  In  fact 
there  was  no  general  grievance  on  which  all 
could  unite.  The  one  exception,  the  over-pro- 
duction of  tobacco,  was  serious  indeed  ;  but  it 
was  forced  on  them  partly  by  circumstance,  and 
partly  by  the  avarice  of  the  crown,  nor  was  it 
a  grievance  peculiar  to  Maryland,  nor  one  that 
any  revolution  was  likely  to  redress  until  the 
upland  country  was  settled. 

The  planter,  living  under  a  simple  code  of 
his  own  framing,  unmolested  in  his  religion, 
scai'cely  knowing  the  Proprietary,  save  as  one 
to  whose  agents  he  paid  light  quit-rents  and 
tobacco-duties,  lived  in  freedom  as  he  lived  in 
the  open  air,  unconsciously.  Hence,  violent  po- 
litical changes,  as  when  the  Parliamentary  com- 
missioners, and  later  the  King,  overthrew  the 
people's  franchises,  were  felt  rather  as  invasions 
of  the  Proprietary's  rights  than  of  their  own. 
The  sense  of  political  liberty  was  lost  in  that 
of  personal  freedom.  It  took  the  experience  of 
the  eighteenth  centui-y  to  show  that  the  one 
grew  from  the  other  as  the  plant  from  its  soil. 
u 


1G2  MARYLAND: 

The  same  causes  that  hindered  the  growth  of 
towns  promoted  local  sociability  and  hospital- 
ity. Almost  every  plantation  had  water  com- 
munication with  its  neighbors,  and  canoes, 
pinnaces,  and  light  "  pungies,"  the  special  bay- 
craft,  were  incessantly  darting  about.  For  land 
conveyance  they  had  small  wiry  horses,  many 
of  which  ran  wild  in  the  swamps  and  woods, 
and  multiplied  exceedingly.  Carriages  there 
were  none ;  everybody  rode,  and  if  highways 
were  scarce,  bridle-paths  ran  everywhere. 
Planters  who  had  no  water-front  brought  down 
their  tobacco  by  "rolling  roads,"  where  the 
cask,  with  an  axle  througli  it,  and  an  ox  or 
horse  in  a  pair  of  hoop-pole  shafts,  was  at  once 
the  load  and  the  vehicle. 

Nor  need  the  planter  think  ruefully  of  the 
state  of  his  larder  if  he  saw  a  cavalcade  com- 
ing through  the  woods,  or  a  flotilla  steering  up 
to  his  landing.  The  forest  swarmed  with  deer, 
turkeys,  and  pigeons ;  the  creeks  were  alive 
with  swans,  geese,  and  ducks ;  fish  of  the  most 
delicate  kinds,  with  oysters  and  crabs,  could  be 
drawn  in  cartloads  from  the  water  at  his  door. 
Sheep  there  were  few,  on  account  of  the  wolves, 
but  the  herds  of  swine,  fed  with  plenteous  mast, 
and  guarded  by  the  valiant  boars,i  ran  wild  in 

1  We  find  in  1653  a  double  price  set  on  "a  great  boar  which 
defended  the  herd  from  the  wolves." 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A   PALATINATE.  163 

the  wooas,  each  bearing  its  owner's  registered 
mark.  Cattle  also  were  numerous,  and  ran 
partly  wild.  These  were  of  a  scrubby  kind, 
probably,  and  no  great  milkers,  if  we  may  judge 
by  the  recorded  name  of  "  Five  Pints  "  borne 
by  a  cow  apparently  as  a  title  of  honor.  Wheat 
bread  was  not  abundant,  but  there  was  plenty 
of  hominy,  pone,  and  the  crisp  hoe-cake.  As 
there  were  but  few  mills,  the  corn  had  to  be 
beaten  in  large  wooden  mortars,  a  laborious 
process.  We  find  as  part  of  the  sentence  of  a 
prisoner  that  he  shall  "  beat  his  own  bread," 
and  a  dying  man,  leaving  his  children  to  the 
care  of  a  kinsman,  stipulates  that  they  are  not 
to  be  put  to  the  heavy  drudgery  of  pounding 
corn. 

The  want  of  mills  was  severely  felt  all 
through  the  seventeenth  centur}',  and  was  one 
cause  why  lands  suitable  for  wheat  and  corn 
were  given  up  to  pasturage.  To  remedy  this  a 
law  was  passed  empowering  any  one  willing  to 
erect  a  mill  on  a  water-power,  where  the  owner 
of  the  land  would  not  or  could  not  build  one 
himself,  to  obtain  a  writ  ad  quod  damnum.,  and 
take  up  twenty  acres  as  a  mill-site,  a  jury  deter- 
mining the  amount  of  indemnity  to  the  owner. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  the  five  peculiar 
luxuries  of  the  Chesapeake  Bay,  which  now 
make  its  shores  a  kind  of  gastronomic  Mecca, 


164  MAR  INLAND: 

seem  not  to  have  impressed  our  ancestors  as 
they  impress  their  descendants.  Wild  ducks 
are  mentioned,  but  without  discrimination,  and 
nothing  about  them  was  considered  remarkable 
except  their  numbers.  We  should  have  only 
inferential  proof  that  they  were  eaten  at  all, 
but  for  a  rather  notable  record  of  1678,  from 
which  it  appears  that  the  Governor  and  both 
Houses  of  Assembly,  having  indulged  freely  in 
"  Duck  Py,"  conceived,  from  the  serious  con- 
sequences that  followed,  that  they  had  been 
poisoned.  Touching  crabs  and  terrapin  the  rec- 
ords are  silent ;_  while  the  solitary  reference  to 
the  oyster  —  affection  for  which  mollusk  has 
since  developed  into  a  specific  cultus  in  the  Bay 
region,  caeteris  ostreosior  oris  —  is  distinctively 
a  note  of  dej)reciation.  It  occurs  in  the  dep- 
ositions in  the  Claiborne  suit,  where  the  isl- 
anders particularise  as  one  of  their  hardships, 
that  when  their  supply  of  corn  was  cut  off  they 
had  perforce  to  eat  oysters  to  keep  from  starv- 
ing. 

With  all  these  good  things  of  forest,  field, 
and  flood,  what  more  could  man  desire? 

The  Marylander  desired  more,  he  desired 
abundant  drink.  This  he  made  for  himself, 
in  the  form  of  cider  and  perry,  —  persimmon- 
beer  seems  of  later  introduction,  —  but  he  also 
imported  rum,  "Dutch  drams"  (anise,  rosa  so- 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  165 

lis,  and  other  cordials),  brandy,  metheglin,  clar- 
et, "  Fyal,"  or  canary,  and  sack.  The  name 
sack  was  given  to  both  madeira  and  sherry,  and 
it  was  a  favorite  beverage  with  our  ancestors 
two  hundred  years  ago,  on  whose  modest  dress- 
ers the  silver  sack-cup  was  often  the  sole  piece 
of  plate.  In  1653  we  find  T.  Wilford,  in  con- 
sideration of  twenty  thousand  pounds  of  to- 
bacco, covenanting  to  support  Paul  Sympson, 
for  the  rest  of  his  life,  "like  a  gentleman." 
Looking  fui-ther  to  discover  what  were  the 
needs  of  a  Maryland  bachelor  gentleman,  we 
find  that  he  needed  "  a  house  fifteen  feet  square, 
with  a  Welsh  chimney,  and  lined  with  riven 
boards ;  a  handsome  joined  bedstead,  bedding, 
and  curtains  ;  one  small  table,  six  stools,  and 
three  wainscot  chairs ;  a  servant  to  wait  on 
him  ;  meat,  apparel,  and  washing ;  and  every 
year  one  anker  of  drams,  one  tierce  of  sack, 
and  a  case  of  English  spirits,  for  his  own  drink- 
ing."  1 

Mr.  Sympson's  modest  cabin  was  of  logs,  and 
so  were  most  of  the  houses.  The  wealthier 
planters,  however,  built  of  brick.      The  large, 

1  In  1669  ordinaiy -keepers  charged  ten  pounds  of  tobacco 
for  a  meal,  and  sixteen  pounds  for  a  night's  lodging.  French 
brandy  brought  forty  pounds  per  gallon,  claret  the  same ; 
English  spirits,  Dutch  drams,  madtira,  and  port  one  hundred 
pounds,  and  refined  white  sugar  sixteen  pounds,  —  tobacco 
being  then  worth  twopence  the  pound. 


166  MARYLAND: 

highl3'-glazed,  russet  or  chocolate-colored  bricks, 
found  in  very  old  houses,  were  not,  as  is  com- 
monly supposed,  imported  from  England,  but 
made  on  the  spot.  It  is  doubtful  whether  a 
single  house  was  built  of  imported  brick.  The 
brickmaker  went  to  the  intended  site,  hunted 
for  suitable  clay,  and  then  and  there  made  and 
burned  his  brick  till  enough  were  provided. 
Even  now,  in  parts  of  the  Eastern  Shore,  wher- 
ever we  find  an  old  brick  house,  or  the  site  of 
one,  we  are  pretty  sure  to  find  one  or  more  cir- 
cular shallow  pits  near  at  hand,  from  which  the 
clay  was  taken,^  and  often  traces  of  the  ancient 
kiln. 

Aristocracy  proper  there  was  none,  and  j^et 
the  society  was  aristocratic,  that  is,  it  was  dis- 
tinctly a  society  of  families.  The  wealthier 
planters  lived  in  greater  style,  had  a  larger 
house,  more  land,  more  servants,  more  of  every- 
thing, except  money,  —  nobody  had  any  of  that, 
—  than  his  poorer  neighbor ;  but  this  was 
pretty  much  all  the  difference  in  the  seven- 
teenth century.  It  is  true  that  the  lord  of  a 
manor  had,  in  some  cases,  certain  seigniorial 
rights  ;  but  these  magnates  were  few  and  scat- 

1  The  writer's  attention  was  called  to  these  pits  by  a  gentle- 
man who  has  made  the  early  history  of  the  Eastern  Shore  his 
special  study.  We  find  a  contract  for  making  brick  as  earlv 
as  1653,  and  still  earlier  mention  of  brickmakers. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.         167 

tered.  At  first  there  was  some  disposition  to 
make  these  a  privileged  class,  and,  as  before 
said,  in  1638-39  a  bill  was  introduced  providing 
that  they  should  be  tried  before  a  jury  of  their 
peers,  and  that  sentence  of  death  upon  a  lord 
of  a  manor  should  be  executed  by  beheading  ; 
but  it  never  reached  a  third  reading.  The 
existence  of  African  slavery,  dividing  the  com- 
munity into  free  and  servile  races,  and  the  tem- 
porary servitude  of  convicts  and  redemptioners 
tended  further  to  place  all  freemen  on  a  level. 

The  farmstead  of  the  small  farmer  Avas,  on  a 
small  scale,  what  the  plantation  of  his  wealthy 
neighbor  was  on  a  larger.  Both  were,  as  nearly 
as  might  be,  self-contained,  and  each  was  a 
little  community.  The  family  was  the  centre 
of  all  interest  and  devotion.  As  children  grew 
up  they  helped  to  extend  the  area  of  cultiva- 
tion, or  married  and  settled  on  the  land.  Poor 
relations  were  prized  and  valuable  members  of 
the  family,  which  prospered  the  more  the  more 
it  increased.  The  young,  penniless  fellow  who 
came  over  in  1634,  by  1660  was  a  prosperous 
country  gentleman,  with  broad  acres  around 
him,  his  sons'  farms  girdling  his  own,  and  his 
family  connected  by  intermarriages  with  his 
neighbors  for  miles  around.  Nowhere  was  the 
marriage  bond  held  in  higher  reverence  than 
in  tide-water  Maryland  ;  and,  even  now,  Mary- 


168  MARYLAND'. 

land  is  the  only  State  in  wbich  no  marriage  is 
legally  valid  without  some  religious  sanction. 

Boundless  hospitality  was  a  matter  of  course. ^ 
Any  guest  was  more  than  welcome,  for  at  least 
he  brought  novelty,  and  news  of  the  world  out- 
side ;  and  perhaps  if  he  had  been  at  St.  Mary's, 
and  bad  talked  with  the  captain  of  a  Bristol 
ship,  he  could  tell  of  the  Dutch  and  French 
wars.  Or  perhaps  he  was  an  arrival  from  Eng- 
land, and  at  night,  when  all  gathered  around 
the  hearth  of  blazing  logs,  and  the  candles  of 
fragrant  myrtle-berry  wax  were  lighted,  and  the 
sack-posset  or  rum  punch  was  handed  round, 
he  could  give  the  ladies  some  scraps  of  the 
gossip  of  Whitehall  or  Hampton  Court,  or  de- 
scribe the  fashions  which  yet  live  on  the  can- 
vases of  Lely  and  Kneller. 

Two  slight  glimpses,  by  eye-witnesses,  of  life 
and  society  in  Maryland,  in  the  seventeenth 
century,  are  afforded  by  two  writers,  about  a 
generation  apart,  who  wrote  from  precisely  op- 
posite motives,  with  precisely  opposite  impres- 
sions, and  in  precisely  opposite  styles.  One 
lauds  Maryland  to  the  skies  as  an  earthly  para- 
dise, the  other  anathematises  it  as  a  purgatory, 
or  worse.     One  writes  in  prose,  which  he  tries 

1  "  Planters'  tables,  you  must  know, 
Are  free  to  all  that  come  and  go" 

Sot-Weed  Factor. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.         169 

in  vain  to  make  poetical ;  the  other  in  verse, 
which  he  has  signally  succeeded  in  making 
prosaic.  A  glance  at  each  may  help  a  little  to 
fill  up  an  outline  which  is  but  dim  at  the  best. 

George  Alsop  came  out  to  the  Province  as  a 
redemptioner,  in  1658,  spent  four  years  on  an 
estate  in  Baltimore  County,  and  then,  returning 
to  England,  published  his  "  Character  of  the 
Province  of  Mary-Land,"  as  an  inducement 
to  others  to  emigrate.  The  book  is  dedicated 
to  Lord  Baltimore,  and  may  possibly  have  been 
published  at  his  expense.  The  style  alone  is  a 
curiosity.  George  evidently  felt  that  he  had 
undertaken  a  high  task,  demanding  language  of 
an  altogether  superfine  sort ;  and  his  style  may 
be  characterised  as  Euphuism  in  a  state  of  de- 
composition. "  I  think,"  he  says,  in  his  open- 
ing par;igraph,  "  there  is  not  any  place  under 
the  Heavenly  altitude,  or  that  has  footing  or 
room  upon  the  circular  Globe  of  this  world, 
that  can  parallel  this  fertile  and  pleasant  piece 
of  ground  in  its  multiplicity,  or  rather  Nature's 
extravagancy  of  a  superabounding  plenty.  .  .  . 
So  that  those  parts  of  the  Creation  that  have 
borne  the  Bell  away  (for  many  ages)  for  a 
vegetable  plentiousness,  must  now  in  silence 
strike  and  vayle  all,  and  whisper  softly  in  the 
auditual  parts  of  Mary-Land,  that  None  hut  she 
in  this  dwells  singular^ 


170  MARYLAND: 

But,  coming  down  to  simple  prose,  we  find 
that  Maryland,  or  so  much  as  he  saw  of  it,  was 
a  land  most  plenteous  in  victual.  Venison  was 
so  common  a  meat  as  to  be  in  disfavor ;  and  his 
master,  Mr.  Stockett,  had  at  one  time  in  his 
house,  beside  abundance  of  other  provisions, 
"  fourscore  venisons,"  —  a  pretty  liberal  supply 
for  a  family  of  seven  persons.  Cows  and  horses 
are  numerous,  and  wild  hogs  roam  the  woods 
in  numbers  that  baffle  conjecture.  The  for- 
ests teem  with  feathered  game,  and  as  for  the 
waterfowl,  they  frequent  the  creeks  and  inlets 
in  "  millionous  multitudes." 

The  toleration  of  the  Province,  and  its  ef- 
fects, he  paints  in  colors  perhaps  too  flatter- 
ing. "  Here  the  Roman  Catholick  and  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  concur  in  an  unanimous 
parallel  of  friendship  and  inseparable  love  in- 
tayled  into  one  another."  There  are  no  prisons, 
and  hardly  any  offenders.  "  All  villanous  Out- 
rasres  that  are  committed  in  other  States,  are  not 
so  much  as  known  here :  a  man  may  walk  in 
the  open  Woods  as  secure  from  being  openly 
dissected  as  in  his  own  house  or  dwelling.  So 
hateful  is  a  Robber,  that  if  but  once  imagined 
to  be  so,  he  's  kept  at  a  distance  and  shunned 
as  the  Pestilential  noysomness."  There  are  no 
beggars,  nor  ale-houses,  nor  idlers,  and,  "  from 
an  antient  Custom  in  the  primitive  seating  of 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A   PALATINATE.         171 

the  place,  the  Son  works  as  well  as  the  Servant ; 
so  that  before  they  eat  their  bread,  they  are 
commonly  taught  how  to  earn  it." 

The  position  of  a  servant  in  Maryland  he 
paints  in  the  brightest  colors,  as  far  superior 
to  that  of  an  apprentice  or  young  craftsman  in 
London  ;  and  as  for  women,  they  no  sooner 
arrive  than  they  are  besieged  with  offers  of 
matrimony,  husbands  being  ready  even  for 
those  whom  nature  had  apparently  marked 
out  and  predestined  for  lives  of  single  blessed- 
ness. In  one  point  he  is  at  one  with  our  other 
witnesses,  and  that  is  the  astuteness  of  the 
planters  in  bargaining.  Whether  it  be  the 
operation  of  the  salt  water  they  have  crossed, 
or  the  heat  of  the  sun  they  live  under,  he  will 
not  undertake  to  determine,  but  they  are  "  a 
more  acute  people  in  general,  in  matters  of 
Trade  and  Commerce,  than  in  any  other  place 
of  the  World,  and  by  their  crafty  and  sure  bar- 
gaining do  often  over-reach  the  raw  and  unex- 
perienced ^Merchant ;  "  and  he  warns  a  corre- 
spondent that  the  factor  he  is  about  to  send  out 
must  be  "a  man  of  a  Brain,  otherwise  the 
Planter  will  go  near  to  make  a  Skimming-dish 
of  his  Skull,"  —  which  seems  to  have  been 
precisely  the  operation  performed  on  our  next 
witness. 

And  this    witness,  callincij   himself    "  Eben. 


172  MARYLAND: 

Cook,  Gent.,"  gives  us  a  broad  caricature  of 
some  aspects  of  life  in  the  Province,  in  a  poem 
in  rough,  Hudibrastic  verse,  entitled  "The  Sot- 
Weed  Factor,"  which  relates  his  adventures 
during  a  trip  to  Maryland,  in  the  year  1700,  or 
thereabouts,  in  quest  of  a  cargo  of  tobacco,  or 
"sot-weed,"  as  he  splenetically  calls  it.  Hav- 
ing landed  at  Pascataway  Bay,  amid  a  crowd 
of  planters,  "in  hue  as  tawny  as  a  Moor,"  and 
dressed 

"  In  shirts  and  drawers  of  Scotch-cloth  blue, 
With  neither  stockings,  hat,  nor  shoe," 

he  takes  a  canoe,  and  is  paddled  over  to  the 
other  side,  where  he  is  scared  by  the  howls  of 
a  pack  of  wolves.  Presently  he  espies  a  youth 
driving  some  cows  home,  who  at  once  asks  him 
from  whom  he  has  run  away.  In  wrath.  Master 
Cook  lugs  out  his  sword,  upon  which  the  youth 
apologises,  and  asks  him  to  his  father's  house, 
Avhere  the  old  planter  receives  hitn  with  rude 
but  kind  hospitality,  and  presses  him  to  stay 
all  night.  The  supper-table  is  soon  heaped 
with  pone,  mush  and  milk,  cider-pap  (small 
hominy  boiled  with  cider),  and  hominy  fried 
with  bacon,  or  sweetened  with  molasses.  Sup- 
per dispatched,  the  planter,  remarking  that  his 
guest  does  not  seem  to  relish  their  country 
fare,  produces  a  keg  of  rum,  and  having  re- 
freshed himself  by  the  simple  process  of  drink- 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.         173 

ing  from  the  bung-hole,  invites  Master  Cook  to 
follow  his  example,  which  he  does  so  freely  that 
he  can  scarce  find  his  way  to  bed. 

His  slumbers  are  first  disturbed  by  a  quarrel 
between  a  dog  and  a  pig,  and  then  by  an  in- 
vasion of  ducks  and  geese  flying  from  a  fox. 
In  desperation,  Master  Cook  leaves  the  house 
and  tries  to  snatch  a  nap  in  the  orchard,  but 
frogs,  mosquitoes,  and  snakes  keep  him  from 
closing  an  eye.  A  breakfast  on  young  bear's 
meat  helps  matters  a  little,  and  he  starts  off 
on  horseback  with  a  guide  for  Battle -Town, 
which  he  reaches  without  further  adventure 
than  meeting  an  Indian,  much  to  his  terror. 

Here  he  finds  the  court  in  session,  and  a 
drunken  crowd  around,  who  presently  are  en- 
gaged in  a  general  fight,  from  which  the 
alarmed  factor  takes  refuge  in  an  inn,  where 
he  loses  his  hat  and  shoes,  and  finally  his  horse. 
But  he  finds  a  friend  here  in  a  planter  of  the 
better  sort,  or  "  cockerouse,"  as  he  calls  him,  — 
an  Indian  word  for  chief,  —  who  invites  him 
home  "  to  take  a  bottle  at  his  seat." 

At  the  "  ancient  cedar  house  "  he  receives  a 
hearty  welcome  and  enjoys  a  sumptuous  dinner 
of  venison,  turkey,  wild  ducks,  and  fish,  washed 
down  with  ample  bumpers  of  madeira,  in  which 
he  indulges  so  liberally  that  he  has  to  sleep  off 
the  effects  under  the  trees,  where  he  lies  until 


174  MARYLAND: 

tlie  cliill  of  the  evening,  and  catches  a  fever,  as 
a  matter  of  course. 

Master  Cook  now  thinks  about  disposing  of 
his  goods,  and  falls  in  with  a  Quaker  to  whom 
he  sells  the  whole  for  ten  thousand  weight  of 
good  casked  tobacco,  then  on  board  ship.  Trust- 
ing the  "  conscientious  rogue,"  he  delivers  the 
goods  without  getting  the  bills  of  lading,  and 
the  Quaker  absconds,  leaving  the  unlucky  fac- 
tor minus  both  goods  and  tobacco. 

He  next  seeks  the  aid  of  a  lawyer,  with 
whom  he  goes  to  the  provincial  court  at  An- 
napolis, 

"A  city  situate  on  a  plain 
Where  scarce  a  house  will  keep  out  rain. 
The  buildings  framed  with  cypress  rare 
Resemble  much  our  Southwark  Fair ; 
But  stranger  here  will  hardly  meet 
With  market-place,  exchange,  or  street, 
And  if  the  truth  I  may  report, 
'T  is  not  so  large  as  Tottenham  Court." 

The  court  being  assembled  by  tuck  of  drum, 
Master  Cook's  cause  is  heard,  and  he  gets  a 
verdict,  but  to  his  rage  the  court  adjudges  the 
payment  to  be  made  In  "  country  pay," 

"  In  pipe-staves,  corn,  or  flesh  of  boar, 
Rare  cargo  for  the  English  shore  !  " 

In  a  fury  he  hurries  off  to  the  fleet  and  takes 
passage  for  home,  leaving  his  malediction  upon 
Maiyland  and  all  its  inhabitants. 


THE   IIIHTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.         175 

With  all  the  simplicity  and  rudeness  of  this 
life,  the  people  of  tidewater  Maryland,  high 
and  low,  were  singularly  gentle.  The  records 
of  the  courts  show  an  extraordinary  absence  of 
homicides,  assaults,  and  other  offences  of  a  vio- 
lent character.  The  code,  imitated  from  that 
of  England,  with  its  whipping-post  for  theft, 
its  ducking-stool  for  scolds,  its  pillory  and  ear- 
croppings  for  forgers  and  perjurers,  its  brand- 
ing-irons for  runaways,  its  tongue-borings  for 
blasphemers,  its  gallows  for  murderers,  was 
cruel  in  the  letter,  but  mild  in  the  execution. 
The  pitiless  savagery  of  English  justice  re- 
volted the  tender-hearted  colonists,  and  com- 
mutation of  the  harsher  sentences  seems  to 
have  been  the  rule.  For  an  instance  :  the  only 
conviction  for  infanticide  that  we  have  noted 
in  the  records  of  sixty  years  was  that  of  a 
wretched  girl  who  gave  birth  to  an  illegitimate 
child  in  secret,  which  died  shortly  after  and 
was  privately  buried  by  the  mother.  This  con- 
cealment, under  the  sanguinary  English  stat- 
ute, was  proof  presumptive  of  infanticide,  and 
the  girl  was  condemned  to  death.  But  the 
Council  (sitting  as  a  court)  taking  into  consid- 
eration that  the  body  presented  no  marks  of 
violence,  and  its  being  wrapped  in  clean  linen 
showed  "  a  tender  care  and  affection  on  the 
part  of  the  mother,"  commuted  the  sentence  to 


17G  MARYLAND: 

a  fine  of  6,000  pounds  of  tobacco.  Upon  this 
her  old  father  sent  a  pathetic  petition  to  the 
Council,  representing  that  he  was  wretchedly 
poor  and  already  crushed  with  grief  and  shame, 
upon  which  the  fine  was  reduced  to  500  pounds, 
or  between  .£4  and  <£5  sterling. 

Or  take  another  case :  The  opportunities  for 
servants  to  run  away  and  escape  either  into 
Virginia  or  to  the  settlements  on  the  Dela- 
ware,  were  so  many,  that  the  laws  punishing 
runaways  were  vei-y  strict.  One  Susan  Frizell, 
who  had  run  away  and  been  recaptured,  was 
condemned  to  a  long  additional  term  of  service. 
But  when  she  complained  piteously  of  hard 
usage  by  her  master  and  mistress,  and  showed 
the  greatest  terror  at  the  prospect  of  falling 
again  into  their  hands,  the  court  was  moved  to 
pity  and  released  her  from  their  service.  Jus- 
tice, however,  must  be  done  in  a  court  of  jus- 
tice, and  they  condemned  her  to  indemnify  her 
master  to  the  extent  of  500  pounds  of  tobacco, 
to  earn  which  she  would  have  to  serve  another 
master.  Upon  this  several  humane  gentlemen 
present  at  once  subscribed  600  pounds  for  poor 
Susan,  and  sent  her  awa}^  rejoicing,  a  free 
woman,  with  100  pounds  of  tobacco,  so  to 
speak,  in  her  pocket. 

One  ancient  and  peculiar  institution  of  Mary- 
land claims  attention  for  its  rarity  if  for  no 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.         177 

other  cause,  and  that  is  the  manorial  courts. 
We  have  seen  that  the  charter  gave  the  Pro- 
prietary the  right  to  erect  manors  which  should 
have  courts-baron  and  view  of  frank-pledge. 
For  a  long  time  it  was  doubted  whether  this 
right  was  ever  exercised  ;  but  recently  two  rec- 
ords of  these  courts  have  been  brought  to  light. 

The  court-baron  was  a  court  held  by  the  lord 
of  the  manor  for  the  purpose  of  trying  contro- 
versies relating  to  manor  lands,  trespasses, 
alienations,  reliefs,  metes  and  bounds,  and 
other  minor  matters.  Here  also  the  tenant  did 
fealty  for  his  lands  or  received  seisin.  The 
view  of  frank-pledge,  originally  the  inspection 
of  all  the  resident  freemen,  and  of  the  pledges 
or  sureties  which  each  had  to  give  for  his 
responsibility  before  the  law,  was  afterwards 
merged  in  the  court-leet  or  popular  court,  held 
usually  by  the  steward  or  bailiff  and  attended 
by  all  the  resiants  or  dwellers  on  the  manor, 
which  took  cognisance  of  criminal  offences.  A 
jury  heard  the  charges  and  fixed  the  penalty, 
usually  a  fine,  which  was  afterward  revised  by 
the  sworn  affeerers,  who  reduced  it  if  excessive. 
The  leet  also  took  cognisance  of  accidental 
deaths,  and  levied  deodands.^ 

There  is  a  record  of  a  court-baron  held  at  St. 

1  In  1637-38  we  have  record  of  a  tree  which,  having  fallen 
upon  a  man  and  killed  him,  was  taken  as  a  deodand. 
12 


178  MARYLAND: 

Gabriel's  Manor,  in  1659,  by  the  steward  of 
Mistress  Mary  Brent.  A  tenant  appeared,  did 
fealty  to  the  lady,  and  took  seisin  of  a  messuage 
of  thirty-seven  acres  by  delivery  of  a  rod,  "  ac- 
cording to  the  custom  of  the  manor,"  engaging 
to  pay  yearly  "fifteen  pecks  of  good  Indian 
corn  and  one  fat  capon  or  a  hen  and  a  half ; 
and  for  a  heriot  half  a  barrel  of  like  corn  or 
the  value  thereof." 

There  is  also  extant  the  original  record  of 
courts-baron  and  courts-leet  held  at  St.  Clem- 
ent's Manor  between  the  years  1659-1672.  The 
cases  tried  are  for  assaults,  appropriation  of 
wild  hogs,  keeping  unlicensed  ale-houses,  tres- 
passes, thefts,  and  other  small  matters.  The 
"  King  of  Chaptico  "  is  presented  for  pig-steal- 
ing —  probably  the  only  instance  on  record  of 
the  trial  of  a  monarch  by  a  court-leet.  Metes 
and  bounds  are  looked  into,  constables  ap- 
pointed, leases  examined,  reliefs  upon  aliena- 
tion presented,  and  the  doings  of  the  Indians 
looked  sharply  after. 

It  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  on  other 
manors  also  these  courts  were  held ;  and  the 
fact  that  the  records  were  kept  on  the  manors 
themselves,  and  not  with  the  public  records  at 
St.  Mary's,  sufiiciently  accounts  for  their  disap- 
pearance. 

Another  curious  relic  of  antiquity  was  the 


THE  HISTORY   OF  A  PALATINATE.        179 

blood-ordeal.  In  cases  of  homicide  or  suspi- 
cious death,  the  body  was  sometimes  laid  out, 
and  the  suspected  persons  were  summoned  to 
advance,  one  by  one,  and  lay  their  hands  upon 
its  breast.  There  was  a  general  belief  that  at 
the  touch  of  the  murderer,  the  corpse  would 
bleed ;  and  possibly  the  dread  of  this  may  some- 
times have  helped  to  the  discovery  of  the  guilty. 
In  1660  this  was  tried  in  the  case  of  a  servant 
woman  who  died  suddenly,  and  suspicion  fell  on 
her  fellow-servants  ;  but  no  issue  of  blood  fol- 
lowing the  touch,  the  jury  concluded  that  her 
death  was  "  the  act  of  God." 

Negro  slavery  existed  in  Maryland  from  its 
foundation,  but  it  did  not  assume  any  consider- 
able proportions  in  this  century.  At  the  begin- 
ning of  the  next  it  rapidly  increased,  and  the 
Treaty  of  Utrecht,  in  1713,  placing  the  Asiento 
trade  in  English  hands,  flooded  all  the  colonies 
with  negroes.  At  the  time  of  which  we  are 
writing,  laws  of  wholesome  strictness  regulated 
the  relations  between  master  and  servant,  and 
punished  excessive  severity. '  Some  masters  be- 
ing unwilling  to  have  their  slaves  baptised,  lest 
the  rite  should  carry  manumission  with  it,  the 
Assembly  decided  that  this  did  not  alter  their 
status.  The  unnatural  cohabitation  of  whites 
and  blacks  was  regarded  with  just  abhorrence  ; 
and  a  white  woman  who  married  a  negro  was 


180  MARYLAND: 

held  to  have  renounced  her  race,  and  became 
the  slave  of  the  negro's  master.  All  negroes  in 
the  Province  were  slaves  for  life.  A  law  in 
1695  imposed  a  duty  of  ten  shillings  per  poll  on 
all  negroes  imported,  and  this  was  raised  to 
twenty  shillings  in  1704. 

The  status  of  the  redemptioners  (as  they 
were  called  later)  has  already  been  explained. 
They  were  immigrants  who,  being  unable  to 
pay  their  passage  to  the  Province,  contracted 
with  a  London  or  Bristol  merchant  to  serve  for 
two,  three,  or  four  years  after  their  arrival, 
either  some  specified  person,  or  simply  the  as- 
signs of  the  original  contractor.  In  either  case, 
if  they  disliked  their  employer  they  had  the 
privilege  of  choosing  another. 

The  labor,  according  to  Alsop,  who  was  one 
of  them,  was  not  severe  ;  five  and  a  half  days 
in  the  week  in  summer,  and  in  winter  as  much 
time  as  they  pleased  for  hunting.  At  the  end 
of  their  term  of  service,  which  was  really  an 
apprenticeship  to  colonial  farming,  they  be- 
came freemen,  had  a  year's  provision,  tools,  and 
clothing  from  their  masters,  and  could  take  up 
fifty  acres  of  land.  The  women  who  came 
over  in  this  way  either  went  into  domestic  ser- 
vice or  were  taken  to  wife  by  the  planters. 
The  market  for  wives  was  brisk  in  1660  ;  and 
Alsop  intimates  that  the  bachelors  of  Maryland 


THE  HISTORY   OF  A  PALATINATE.  181 

were  not  disposed  to  be  exacting  on  the  score 
of  personal  comeliness.  One  of  the  most  nota- 
ble of  these  female  immigrants  was  a  niece  of 
Daniel  Defoe,  who,  finding  the  course  of  true 
love  not  running  smooth  in  England,  ran  away 
and  came  to  Maryland  as  a  redemptioner.  Her 
services  were  bought  by  a  farmer  of  Cecil 
County,  bearing  the  auspicious  name  of  Job, 
whose  son  she  afterwards  married. 

A  more  unpleasant  class  of  immigrants  was 
that  of  the  convicts,  or  king's  passengers,  trans- 
ported for  seven  or  for  fourteen  years,  accord- 
ing to  the  magnitude  of  the  offence.  The  col- 
ony earnestly  protested  against  their  introduc- 
tion, and  imposed  penalties  upon  the  masters  of 
ships  who  brought  them  ;  but  when  the  charter 
was  held  in  abeyance,  all  the  protests  were 
overridden.  At  a  later  date,  numbers  of  these 
convicts  were  persons  implicated  in  the  various 
Jacobite  plots,  whose  only  crime  was  their  loy- 
alty to  the  house  of  Stuart.  The  "  Palatines," 
or  German  fugitives  from  the  Palatinate,  who 
have  stamped  their  character  upon  southern 
Pennsylvania,  and  enriched  it  with  that  singu- 
lar tongue  known  as  "  Pennsylvania  Dutch," 
did  not  enter  Maryland  in  any  numbers  until 
toward  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century', 
and  then  they  kept  well  away  from  tide-water. 

In  the  seventeenth  century  thare  were  no  set- 


182  MARYLAND: 

tlements  in  the  piedmont  region.  Outside  the 
tide-water  country,  about  the  falls  of  the 
Potomac,  the  sources  of  the  Patuxent  and 
Patapsco,  and  around  by  the  north  to  the 
Susquehanna,  hovered  the  rangers,  bands  of 
adventurous  men  who  loved  the  woodland  life, 
and  under  the  command  of  their  officers  did 
constant  outpost  duty,  watching  the  Indians, 
taking  up  strayed  or  unmarked  cattle,  catching 
runaway  servants  and  fugitives  from  justice, 
and  examining  all  doubtful  persons  entering  or 
leaving  the  Province  by  land.  At  a  later  date, 
when  settlements  had  been  pushed  into  the 
piedmont  country,  the  place  of  the  rangers  was 
taken  by  the  backwoodsmen,  like  the  Cresaps, 
men  of  the  forest,  who  lived  more  by  the  rifle 
than  the  plough,  surpassing  even  the  Indian 
himself  in  woodcraft  and  the  arts  of  savage 
warfare,  and  who  partly  threw  aside  the  cus- 
toms of  civilisation  ;  men  who  wore  the  Indian 
dress,  and  sometimes  even  the  Indian  paint ; 
who  carried  tomahawk  and  knife  as  well  as 
the  unerring  rifle,  and  displayed  the  scalps  of 
savage  foes  with  all  the  pride  of  a  Cayuga 
brave ;  and  whose  glory  it  was  to  be  mistaken 
for  Indians  when  they  made  their  rare  visits  to 
the  lower  settlements. 

Towards   the   latter  part  of  the  century  the 
growth    and   prosperity   of  the   Province  were 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.         183 

somewhat  checked.  A  murrain  came  upon  the 
sheep  and  cattle,  and  was  followed  by  a  severe 
epidemic  among  the  inhabitants.  The  Church 
Establishment  with  its  taxation  rendered  the 
Province  unattractive  to  all  who  were  not  of 
that  faith.  Tobacco  bore  so  low  a  price  in 
England  that  the  planters  were  much  distressed, 
and  yet  they  were  debarred  by  the  Navigation 
Acts  from  seeking  any  other  market.  They 
had  some  small  intercolonial  trade  with  New 
England,  sending  corn,  beef,  pork,  and  lumber, 
and  getting  return  cargoes  of  rum,  fish,  and 
wooden-ware  ;  and  this  trade  might  be  carried 
in  native  bottoms ;  but  so  thoroughly  had  the 
Acts  stifled  ship-building,  that  as  late  as  1721 
the  Provincial  shipping  amounted  to  no  more 
than  two  brigs  and  about  twenty  sloops  large 
enough  to  go  outside  the  capes,  and  this  at  a 
time  when  more  than  a  hundred  English  ships 
were  loaded  in  Maryland  every  year. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

EOYAL   GOVEENMENT. 

In  1692  Sir  Lionel  Copley,  the  first  royal 
Governor,  arrived  in  Maryland,  and  the  Con- 
vention, as  the  self-appointed  ruling  body  styled 
itself,  handed  over  the  government  to  him. 
After  appointing  a  Council  from  the  leading 
spirits  of  the  Associators,  he  convened  an  As- 
sembly, with  Cheseldyn  as  Speaker,  whose  first 
act  was  to  recognise  the  title  of  William  and 
Mary,  and  to  thank  them  for  deliverance  from 
"  a  tyrannical  Popish  government  under  which 
they  had  long  groaned."  This  was  the  stereo- 
typed phrase  which  had  done  duty  for  fifty 
years,  unchallenged ;  but  in  1701  the  Hamlets 
of  the  Assembly  were  called  upon  to  reckon 
their  groans,  and  specify  the  grievances  of  the 
Proprietary  government  which  had  oppressed 
them  so  cruelly.  They  specified  four,  of  which 
one  was  false,  namely,  that  the  port-duty  on 
tobacco  was  really  a  fort-duty  and  belonged  to 
the  Province ;  and  two  were  franchises,  not 
grievances,  namely,  that  the  Provincial  laws 
did  not  need  to  be  sent  to  the  crown  for  con- 
firmation, and  that  there  was  no  appeal  to  Eng- 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A   PALATINATE.  185 

land  from  the  Provincial  courts.  As  for  the 
oath  of  allegiance,  the  absence  of  which  they 
felt  so  acutely,  the  Act  imposing  it  had  been 
abrogated  by  the  Parliamentary  commissioners, 
not  by  the  Proprietary ;  and  the  oath  was,  any- 
how, superfluous,  as  the  charter  declared  all  the 
inhabitants  of  the  Province  to  be  in  allegiance 
to  the  English  crown. 

However  this  might  be,  the  Assembly  of 
1692  were  thoroughly  minded  that  others 
should  have  cause  for  groaning  ;  and  their  sec- 
ond act  was  to  make  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church  the  established  Church  of  the  Province. 
The  Act,  though  somewhat  modified  at  times, 
continued  in  the  main  the  same  down  to  the 
Revolution.  It  divided  the  ten  counties  into 
parishes,  and  imposed  an  annual  tax  of  forty 
pounds  of  tobacco  per  poll  on  all  taxables  for 
the  purpose  of  building  churches  and  maintain- 
ing the  clergy.  In  1702  it  was  reenacted  with 
a  toleration  clause:  Protestant  Dissenters  aud 
Quakers  were  exempted  from  penalties  and  dis- 
abilities, and  might  have  separate  meeting- 
houses, provided  that  they  paid  their  forty 
pounds  per  poll  to  support  the  Established 
Church.  As  for  the  "  Papists,"  it  is  needless 
to  say  that  there  was  no  exemption  nor  license 
for  them. 

We   may  now  place  side  by  side  the  three 


186  MARYLAND: 

tolerations  of  Maryland.  The  toleration  of  the 
Proprietaries  lasted  fifty  years,  and  under  it  all 
believers  in  Christ  were  equal  before  the  law, 
and  all  support  to  churches  or  ministers  was 
voluntary ;  the  Puritan  toleration  lasted  six 
years,  and  included  all  but  Papists,  Prelatists, 
and  those  who  held  objectionable  doctrines  ;  the 
Anglican  toleration  lasted  eighty  years,  and 
had  glebes  and  churches  for  the  Establishment, 
connivance  for  Dissenters,  the  penal  laws  for 
Catholics,  and  for  all  the  forty  per  poll. 

In  fact  an  additional  turn  was  given  to  the 
screw  in  this  year  ;  the  oath  of  "  abhorrency," 
a  more  offensive  form  of  the  oath  of  supremacy, 
being  required,  beside  the  oath  of  allegiance  ; 
and  for  one  thing,  no  Catholic  attorney  was 
allowed  to  practise  in  the  Province. 

This  increase  of  severity  was  due  in  part  to 
fright.  The  dismissal  of  Marlborough,  and  the 
formidable  preparations  of  Louis  XIV.  to  in- 
vade England  and  reinstate  James,  caused  deep 
but  smothered  excitement  throughout  the  Prov- 
ince. Those  of  Jacobite  leanings  began  to 
lift  their  heads  once  more  and  predict  that 
great  things  would  happen  in  May ;  and  the 
catch-word  that  "  the  man  should  have  his  mare 
again,"  was  often  in  their  mouths.  The  French 
and  their  Indian  allies  were  threatening  Albany, 
and  the  Governor  of  New  York  made  an  urgent 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.         187 

appeal  for  help,  which  Maryland  answered  with 
a  gift  of  <£100  sterling,  but  could  send  no  men, 
as  there  were  rumors  of  parties  of  French  and 
"  naked "  (i.  e.,  Canadian)  Indians  hovering 
about  the  head  of  the  bay.  But  the  battle  of 
La  Hogue  freed  the  Province  from  one  of  these 
terrors,  and  the  Indian  scare  died  out  of  itself. 

Governor  Copley,  who  had  been  for  some 
time  in  ill  health,  died  in  1693,  and  after  a 
brief  and  violent  interval  of  Sir  Edmund  An- 
dros,  Francis  Nicholson,  late  Governor  of  Vir- 
ginia, succeeded  to  the  office.  As  in  Virginia 
he  had  transferred  the  capital  from  Jamestown, 
so  in  Marjdand  he  summoned  his  first  Assem- 
bly to  meet  at  Annapolis,^  and  this  action  was 
the  knell  of  St.  Mary's.  The  inhabitants  of 
the  ancient  city  petitioned  in  vain  ;  their  re- 
monstrance was  met  with  coarse  scorn,  and  the 
capital  was  permanently  fixed  in  the  more  cen- 
tral city  on  the  Severn. 

Whatever  disaffection  this  or  other  acts  of 
the  Governor  excited,  found  a  ready  mouth- 
piece in  the  reprobate  Coode.  This  unsavory 
person  had  been  elected  to  the  Lower  House 
in  1696,  but  Nicholson  refused  to  qualify  him, 
on  the  ground  that  he  was  in  priest's  orders. 

1  In  1683  an  Assembly  met  "  at  the  Ridge  in  Ann  Arundel 
Count}',"  and  there  was  talk  of  removing  thfc  seat  of  govern- 
ment to  that  place. 


188  MARYLAND: 

The  Delegates  replied  that  he  had  discarded 
the  clerical  character,  and  had  already  sat  as  a 
burgess,  in  1681,  thongh  under  the  cloud  of  a 
criminal  prosecution.  Nicholson  told  them  that 
once  a  priest  was  always  a  priest,  and  rebuked 
them  for  selecting  a  man  of  such  notorious  and 
flagitious  life  and  conversation.  In  fact,  in 
throwing  off  the  clerical  habit  Coode  seems  to 
have  renounced  religion,  morality,  and  even 
common  decency ;  he  was  a  blatant  blasphemer, 
railing  openly  at  Christianity  and  the  Bible ; 
he  had  raised  a  fund  to  build  a  church,  and  ap- 
propriated great  part  of  it ;  and  on  one  occasion 
he  was  so  drunk  and  disorderly  during  divine 
service  that  Governor  Nicholson  caned  him  with 
his  own  hand. 

Filled  with  rage,  he  now  tried  to  hatch  a  plot 
against  the  Governor,  getting  to  his  side  two  or 
three  of  the  baser  sort,  setting  afloat  the  most 
scandalous,  and  even  incredible,  stories  of  Nich- 
olson's licentious  life,  and  bragging  that  "  he 
had  pulled  down  one  government,  and  could 
pull  down  another."  But  his  influence  was 
gone,  and  he  could  get  no  following  ;  disaffec- 
tion itself  being  ashamed  to  acknowledge  such 
a  leader.  The  grand  jury  indicted  him,  and  he 
escaped,  with  a  few  unclean  birds  of  his  own 
feather,  to  the  usual  city  of  refuge  for  Mary- 
land malefactors,  Virginia,  where  Andros  seems 


THE    HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  189 

to  Lave  secretly  protected  him ;  at  least,  on 
Nicholson's  application  for  bis  arrest,  Andros, 
instead  of  sending  the  sheriff,  issued  a  proc- 
lamation, which  Nicholson  sarcastically  com- 
pared to  the  light-houses  on  the  Barbary  coast, 
lit,  not  as  beacons  for  distressed  mariners,  but 
as  signals  to  the  corsairs.  In  1701,  on  his  ab- 
ject petition,  Coode  was  pardoned,  and  we  may 
suppose  brought  some  show  of  decency  into  his 
life,  as  he  sat  in  the  Assembly  as  Delegate  in 
1708,  the  clerical  disability  being  apparently 
overlooked. 

Nicholson  may  have  been  an  immoral  man, 
as  his  enemies  alleged,  with  singular  circum- 
stantiality of  detail,  but  he  was  not  a  small 
man  ;  and  for  one  thing  he  was  distinguished, 
—  his  zeal  for  education.  He  had  founded  Wil- 
liam and  Mary  College  in  Virginia,  and  he  was 
no  sooner  well  settled  in  Maryland  than  he 
urged  upon  the  Assembly  the  establishment  of 
free  schools.  The  Assembly  concurred,  and  in 
1696  King  William  School  was  founded  at  An- 
napolis, Nicholson  himself  contributing  gener- 
ously ;  and  an  export  duty  was  laid  on  furs  for 
the  maintenance  of  this  and  other  schools. 

The  novelty  of  a  Church  Establishment  met 
at  first  with  great  opposition.  Only  a  small  mi- 
nority of  the  population  were  members  of  the 
Church  of  England.     The  Dissenters,  Quakers, 


190  MARYLAND: 

and  Catholics  opposed  it  on  religious  grounds, 
and  the  indifferent  were  hostile  to  it  because  of 
the  tax.  The  Act  not  specifying  the  quality  of 
the  tobacco  to  be  levied,  the  forty-pound  pay- 
ment was  made  in  the  worst  "  trash,"  so  that 
the  few  clergymen  in  the  Province  came  near 
starving,  and  there  was  no  encouragement  for 
others  to  come.  Fortunately  for  the  Church, 
Compton,  Bishop  of  London,  to  whom  the  con- 
dition of  affairs  was  reported,  selected  as  Com- 
missary of  Maryland  Dr.  Thomas  Bray,  a  man 
with  something  of  the  apostolic  character,  who 
entered  on  his  task  with  ardor,  and  devoted 
nearly  all  his  fortune,  as  well  as  his  personal 
labors,  to  building  up  the  Church.  He  bought 
and  sent  out  parochial  libraries ;  he  secured 
missionaries  and  sent  them  over  ;  he  came  over 
at  last  in  person,  and  lent  his  aid  to  the  As- 
sembly at  a  critical  juncture. 

In  1696  a  law  for  the  Establishment  was 
passed  in  the  Province,  repealing  all  former 
enactments,  but  containing  also  a  clause  that 
the  colonists  were  entitled  to  "  enjoy  their 
rights  and  liberties,  according  to  the  laws  and 
statutes  of  England."  All  laws  had  now  to  be 
sent  to  the  King  for  confirmation,  and  Nichol- 
son warned  them  that  this  would  be  rejected, 
as  it  contained  a  provision  alien  to  its  title. 
The  King  refused  his  assent,  as  Nicholson  fore- 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A   PALATINATE.  191 

told,  and  the  Established  Church  of  Maryland 
was  established  no  longer. 

At  this  time  Bray  came  out,  and  helped  the 
Assembly  to  frame  such  a  bill  as  the  King 
and  Council  would  approve.  But  this  bill  con- 
tained a  clause  providing  that  the  service  of 
the  Church  of  England  should  be  used  in  every 
place  of  worship  in  the  Province,  thus  destroy- 
ing the  meagre  toleration  that  had  been  con- 
ceded to  the  Dissenters.  However,  the  Attor- 
ney-General disapproved  Bray's  bill,  and  one 
of  a  less  stringent  nature  was  finally  passed. 

More  pleasant  to  remember  are  Dr.  Bray's 
efforts  for  the  reformation  of  the  clergy,  whose 
lives  seem  not  to  have  been  altogether  exem- 
plary. He  held  a  visitation  at  Annapolis  in 
1700,  disciplining  offenders,  exhorting  the  luke- 
warm, and  putting  the  Church  into  order,  and 
though  he  soon  after  returned  to  England  to 
revisit  the  Province  no  more,  his  exertions  had 
placed  the  Episcopal  Church  in  Maryland  on  a 
firm  foundation. 

In  fact  the  position  of  the  Church  was  some- 
what anomalous,  through  the  whole  colonial 
period.  It  was  an  Established  Church  but  not 
a  State  Church.  The  Bishop  of  London  was 
looked  on  as  the  diocesan  of  the  colonial 
Church,  apparently  from  the  fact  that  many 
of  the  members  of  the  Virginia  Company  bad 


192  MARYLAND: 

belonged  to  his  diocese,  and  the  Bishop  of  that 
day  was  a  member  of  the  company.  But  he 
had  no  legal  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction,  as  was 
decided  by  the  law-advisers  of  the  crown,  and 
the  Church  was  a  missionary  Church.  The 
patronage,  advowsons,  and  so  forth,  in  Mary- 
land, were  given  by  the  charter  to  the  Proprie- 
tary, and  it  rested  with  him  or  his  representa- 
tive to  induct  any  incumbent.  In  1725  Bishop 
Gibson  received  a  patent  from  George  I.,  au- 
thorising him  to  exercise  spiritual  jurisdiction 
in  the  colonies ;  but  it  was  directed  to  him  per- 
sonally and  not  as  Bishop,  and  expired  with  his 
life,  though  subsequent  Bishops  exercised  the 
same  or  similar  authority,  apparently  more  by 
allowance  than  right. 

By  this  time  a  contest  had  begun  which 
seemed  to  be  a  mere  dynastic  quarrel,  but 
which  in  its  issues  involved  the  most  momen- 
tous questions  of  modern  times.  The  question 
which  of  the  descendants  of  Charles  V.  should 
sit  on  the  throne  of  Spain,  led  straight  to  that 
other  question,  whether  North  America  w^as  to 
be  French  or  English,  and  indirectly  to  that 
still  greater  question,  whether  it  was  to  be  Eng- 
lish or  American. 

There  had  been  border-fighting  on  the  north- 
ern frontier  through  most  of  William's  reign, 
and,  to  the  shame  of  civilisation,  the  savages 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.         193 

were  brought  in  as  allies  on  both  sides,  the 
Five  Nations  being  the  allies  of  the  English, 
and  the  Algonkin  tribes  of  the  French.  The 
northern  colonies  bore  the  brunt  of  the  war, 
and  they  appealed  to  the  southern  for  aid.  In 
1694  the  King  wrote  to  Nicholson,  fixing  the 
quota  of  men  and  supplies  which  Maryland 
was  to  furnish.  So  now,  in  addition  to  the 
Church  establishment,  Maryland  was  saddled 
with  crown  requisitions  as  the  second  blessing 
of  royal  government. 

We  may  note  just  here  the  beginning  of  the 
weaning  process  that  at  last  was  to  alienate 
Maryland  from  the  mother-country.  Down  to 
this  time  all  discontents,  all  irritations,  all  sus- 
picions, were  directed  against  the  Proprietary 
government,  as  that  with  which  the  people 
came  into  contact,  and  the  King  and  Parlia- 
ment were  regarded  as  powers  of  pure  benefi- 
cence, longing  to  fold  the  Province  to  their 
cherishing  bosoms.  The  thongs  of  their  shield, 
the  charter,  chafed  the  arms  of  the  colonists, 
and  they  knew  not  from  what  blows  and  wounds 
it  protected  them,  until  they  had  thrown  it 
away. 

The  Navigation  Acts  were  violations  of  the 
charter ;  but  the  people  had  grown  used  .to 
them,  and  partly  evaded  them  by  smuggling. 
The  colonies  had  never  enjoyed  the  benefits  of 


194  MARYLAND: 

free  commerce  and  sliip-building,  and  hardly 
knew  what  they  missed.  The  crown  had  al- 
ways claimed  the  right  to  regulate  commerce, 
and  even  when  that  right  was  stretched  so  as 
to  cripple  their  industries  and  load  them  with 
indirect  taxation,  the  people  bore  the  burden 
almost  as  patiently  as  do  their  successors,  with 
less  reason,  at  the  present  day.  The  rapacity 
and  insolence  of  the  royal  collectors  were  felt 
as  personal  irritations,  and  not  as  the  fault  of 
the  system.  But  now,  in  the  forty  per  poll  and 
the  crown  requisitions,  the  colonists  distinctly 
felt  the  immediate  pressure  of  England's  heavy 
hand.  The  rift  was  started,  and  wedge  after 
wedge  was  to  be  inserted,  until  taxation  for 
revenue,  writs  of  assistance,  the  Boston  Port 
Bill,  and  the  statute  of  Henry  VIII.,  should 
rend  the  empire  in  twain. 

For  the  present,  these  requisitions,  though 
not  squarely  refused,  met  with  steady  opposi- 
tion. They  had  to  pass  the  Assembly,  as  they 
were  nominally  free  gifts,  not  impositions,  and 
the  Assembly  was  always  ready  with  diflficul- 
ties  :  the  Province  was  too  poor  to  pay,  or  the 
defence  of  the  Canada  border  did  not  concern 
Maryland,  or  Maryland  had  all  she  could  do  to 
provide  for  her  own  defence.  At  a  later  date 
the  opposition  was  still  more  stubborn,  as  will 
be  shown  in  its  proper  place. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.         195 

The  peace  of  Ryswick,  in  1697,  suspended 
this  grievance  for  a  time.  While  it  relieved  the 
colonists  from  requisitions  and  Indian  scares,  it 
also  gave  King  William  one  of  the  few  oppor- 
tunities he  enjoyed  of  turning  his  thoughts  to 
the  amenities  of  peace.  He  had,  it  seems,  a 
"volary,"  or  as  we  should  now  say,  an  aviary, 
at  his  beloved  Loo,  which  he  was  desirous  to 
enrich  with  specimens  from  his  transatlantic 
dominions,  and  so  wrote  to  the  Governor  for  a 
collection  of  Maryland  birds.  Nicholson  directs 
the  sheriffs  of  the  several  counties  to  make 
known,  especially  among  the  poorer  people,  the 
King's  desire,  and  to  collect  "  mock-birds,  blue- 
birds, Baltimore  birds,  black  birds  with  red 
wings,  and  all  sorts  of  deer  and  other  beasts  of 
curiosity,'*  among  which,  we  may  suppose,  the 
opossum,  the  flying-squirrel,  the  raccoon,  and 
the  prophetic  ground-hog,  would  not  fail  to  be 
included. 

Nicholson  had  written  to  the  Lords  of  Trade 
asking  for  a  general  pardon  for  the  inhabitants 
of  Maryland,  for  what  reasons  is  not  now  very 
plain.  The  Lords  replied,  expressing  willing- 
ness on  behalf  of  the  crown,  but  asking  what 
kind  of  a  pardon  was  needed.  The  Governor 
laid  the  letter  before  the  Delegates,  who  an- 
swered with  spirit  that  "  they  were  not  con- 
scious that    the   Province   labored   under   any 


196  MARYLAND: 

guilt,  and  therefore  humbly  conceived  that 
they  had  no  need  of  pardon."  Nicholson  took 
this  in  high  dudgeon,  and  told  them  that  they 
wei'e  the  first  body  of  people  that  ever  refused 
their  King's  mercy,  and  that  since  their  hearts 
were  so  high,  he  should  proceed  to  exact  vari- 
ous forfeitures  which  he  had  thought  of  remit- 
ting ;  but  they  kept  firm  to  their  determination 
to  accept  no  pardon  where  they  acknowledged 
no  offence,  and  the  King's  peace  returned  to 
him  again. 

Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  scruples  of 
the  Quakers  about  bearing  arms,  or  even  con- 
tributing to  the  support  of  those  who  used  the 
carnal  weapon  in  their  defence,  sometimes 
brought  them  into  collision  with  the  authori- 
ties, they  found  Maryland  a  safe  and  desirable 
harbor.  In  1661  there  were  so  many  in  the 
Province  that  they  had  settled  meetings.  In 
1672  their  founder,  George  Fox,  paid  Mary- 
land a  visit  and  attended  a  large  meeting  at 
West  River  in  Ann  Arundel  County,  which 
lasted  four  days,  and  in  the  same  year  another 
in  Talbot  which  lasted  five,  showing  that  the 
sect  must  have  had  a  pretty  numerous  follow- 
ing. In  1674  they  petitioned  to  be  relieved  of 
the  obligation  to  testify  in  court,  asking  that 
their  "  yea,  yea,  and  nay,  nay,  wherein  we 
double  the  words  to  give   them  more  force," 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  197 

miglit  be  accepted  as  the  equivalent  of  an 
oath  ;  but  their  petition  was  rejected,  though 
at  a  later  date  they  were  allowed  to  affirm  in- 
stead of  swearing  in  judicial  matters.  In  1695 
they  were  equally  unsuccessful  in  an  applica- 
tion to  be  relieved  of  the  parish  dues.  The 
public  levy,  the  quit-rents,  and  the  forty  per 
poll  were  the  trinoda  necessitas  from  which 
there  was  no  exemption. 

In  1696-97  a  murrain  broke  out  among  the 
sheep  and  cattle  destroying  great  numbers,  and 
this  was  followed  by  an  epidemic  of  some  sort 
among  the  people,  during  which  the  Roman 
Catholic  clergy  incurred  the  wrath  of  the  As- 
sembly by  their  visitations  of  the  sick,  Protest- 
ant as  well  as  Catholic,  their  charitable  actions 
being  attributed  to  a  desire  to  make  converts. 
A  mineral  spring  in  St.  Mary's  County  was 
found  to  have  highly  beneficial  effects,  so  it 
was  bought  by  the  Assembly  and  made  a  pub- 
lic sanatorium,  and  huts  were  built  near  it  for 
the  accommodation  of  the  poor.  Nicholson 
sent  a  supply  of  Bibles  for  their  use,  and  en- 
gaged readers  to  read  them  and  other  books  of 
devotion  to  the  sick.  By  October  the  epidemic 
had  disappeared,  and  a  public  thanksgiving  was 
held. 

This  pious  and  charitable  act  of  Nicholson's 
was  almost  his  last  in  the  Province.     On  Janu- 


198  MARYLAND: 

ary  2,  1698-99,  he  was  transferred  to  the  gov- 
ernment of  Virginia,  and  gave  up  his  office  to 
Nathaniel  Blakiston,  an  amiable  man  and  gen- 
erally acceptable ;  but  ill  health  compelled  him 
to  resign  his  position  in  1703  to  John  Seymour. 

The  administrations  of  Blakiston  and  Sey- 
mour present  but  few  events  of  interest. 
Shortly  after  the  accession  of  Anne  in  1702, 
war  broke  out  again  between  England  and 
France,  and  the  usual  border  fighting  and  con- 
sequent requisitions  followed.  French  cruisers 
entered  the  Chesapeake,  doing  some  damage  to 
the  plantations,  and  even  threatening  Annapo- 
lis. Pirates  also,  among  whom  was  the  re- 
doubtable Captain  Kidd,  infested  the  coast,  to 
the  great  damage  of  intercolonial  commerce, 
and  constant  complaints  were  made,  whether 
true  or  false,  that  they  were  aided  and  pro- 
tected by  the  Pennsylvanians.  Several  were 
captured  in  Maryland  and  sent  to  England  for 
trial,  until  a  commissioner  was  sent  over  to  es- 
tablish courts  of  admiralty  in  Maryland. 

One  Richard  Johnson,  commander  of  a  brig- 
antine,  performed  an  exploit  worth  remember- 
ing, in  1704.  His  vessel  was  captured  off 
Martinique  by  a  French  privateer,  and  he  was 
made  prisoner.  On  the  voyage  to  France,  he, 
with  another  Englishman,  surprised  the  crew, 
threw  the  captain  overboard,  and  got  possession 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A   PALATINATE.  199 

of  the  privateer,  which  the  two  brought  safely 
to  Maryland,  where  she  was  condemned,  and 
we  trust  the  gallant  fellow  received  a  liberal 
share  of  prize-money. 

It  seemed  to  be  the  theory  that  whenever 
there  was  war  with  France,  the  small  body  of 
Roman  Catholics  in  Maryland  were  ready  to 
help  the  French  side.  Had  this  been  the  case, 
one  could  hardly  blame  them,  for  certainly  a 
government  that  treated  them  as  aliens  and 
probable  traitors  had  small  claim  to  their  alle- 
giance ;  but  as  matter  of  fact  there  is  no  ev- 
idence that  there  was  the  least  disloyalty  to 
England  among  them.  Yet  this  war  gave  ex- 
cuse for  further  severities  against  them.  It 
was  made  a  crime  punishable  with  fine  and  im- 
prisonment for  a  priest  to  say  mass,  or  exercise 
any  priestly  function  ;  and  any  member  of  the 
Church  of  Rome  who  should  teach,  or  even 
board  young  persons,  was  to  be  sent  to  Eng- 
land for  prosecution.  Children  of  Catholics 
were  encouraged  to  forsake  their  parents'  re- 
ligion. A  duty  of  twenty  shillings  per  poll  was 
laid  on  all  Irish  papists  brought  into  the  Prov- 
ince. 

The  same  duty  was  laid  on  negroes,  who  now 
began  to  be  imported  in  considerable  numbers, 
not  from  the  West  India  islands,  as  heretofore, 
but  directly  from  Africa.     In  1712  it  was  esti- 


200  MARYLAND: 

mated  that  there  were  8,000  negroes  in  Mary- 
land, out  of  a  total  popuhition  of  46,000  souls. 

The  long  life  of  Charles,  third  Lord  Balti- 
more and  second  Proprietary,  was  now  draw- 
ing toward  its  close.  He  had  had  many  trials, 
but 'perhaps  the  bitterest  was  still  in  store.  He 
had  held  firm  to  his  father's  faith,  although  his 
steadfastness  had  reduced  him  from  a  prince  to 
a  mere  absentee  landlord,  and  was  likely  at 
any  time  to  reduce  him  to  a  beggar.  The  fast 
failing  health  of  the  childless  Anne,  on  whose 
death  England  would  have  to  choose  between 
the  lineal  heir  to  the  throne  and  a  petty  Ger- 
man prince  of  alien  habits  and  speech,  with 
nothing:  but  Protestantism  for  a  recommenda- 
tion,  stimulated  the  hopes  and  activity  of  the 
Jacobites,  raised  still  higher  the  hostility  of  the 
Whigs,  and  embittered  all  animosities  against 
the  Roman  Catholics.  Baltimore's  son  and 
heii",  Benedict  Leonard,  saw  this,  and  reversing 
the  policy  of  his  great-grandfather,  publicly  re- 
nounced the  Roman  faith,  and  attached  himself 
to  the  Church  of  England. 

Upon  this,  his  angry  father  withdrew  the 
yearly  allowance  of  .£450  which  he  had 
granted  him,  so  that  Benedict  was  obliged  to 
live  and  educate  his  six  children  —  formerly 
educated  in  Catholic  seminaries  on  the  con- 
tinent, at  their  grandfather's  charge,  but  now" 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  201 

placed  at  Protestant  schools  in  England  —  out 
of  his  wife's  settlement.  In  these  straitened 
circumstances  he  appealed  to  Queen  Anne, 
who  granted  him  a  pension  of  ,£300  during 
his  father's  life,  and,  at  his  request,  appointed 
John  Hart  as  Governor  (Edward  Lloyd,  Presi- 
dent of  the  Council,  having  acted  ad  interim 
since  Seymour's  death  in  1709),  who  allowed 
Benedict  £500  per  annum  out  of  his  emolu- 
ments. 

Upon  the  accession  of  George  I.,  in  1714, 
Benedict  laid  these  facts  before  the  new  sov- 
ereign, solicited  a  continuance  of  his  pension, 
and  the  renewal  of  Hart's  commission,  which 
the  King  very  willingly  granted.  On  Febru- 
ary 20,  1714-15,  Charles,  Lord  Baltimore,  died, 
at  the  age  of  eighty-five,  and  Benedict  Leonard 
succeeded  to  the  title  and  estates.  But  he  had 
hardly  been  recognised  as  Proprietary,  when  he 
also  died,  on  April  5, 1715,  and  his  son  Charles, 
a  minor,  succeeded  to  his  title  and  rights,  as 
fifth  Lord  Baltimore,  and  fourth  Proprietary. 

As  the  charter  still  stood  firm,  and  the  Pro- 
prietary government  was  only  suspended  by 
the  crown  on  William's  pretext  that  it  was  un- 
safe in  Catholic  hands,  with  the  accession  of  a 
Protestant  that  pretext  was  no  longer  tenable, 
and,  on  the  petition  of  Lord  Guilford,  Charles's 
guardian,  the  King,  "  to  give  encouragement 


202  MARYLAND, 

to  the  educating  of  the  numerous  issue  of  so 
noble  a  family  in  the  Protestant  religion," 
restored  the  government  to  the  youthful  Pro- 
prietary, after  twenty-three  years  of  abeyance. 
Lord  Guilford  at  once  assumed  the  administra- 
tion in  the  name  of  his  ward,  and  Hart  was  re- 
commissioned  as  Proprietary  Governor.  Theo- 
retically this  placed  Maryland  where  she  had 
been  in  the  days  of  Cecilius,  but  in  reality  the 
Palatinate  government,  like  the  Abbot  of  Ab- 
ingdon, had 

"  Had  a  knock  of  a  king,  and  incurable  the  wound." 


CHAPTER  XII. 

CHANGED   RELATIONS    OF    THE    PROVINCE. 
BORDER    WARFARE. 

Though  the  relations  of  the  Province  and 
people  to  the  Proprietary  government  were 
now  legally  and  nominally  the  same  that  they 
had  been  under  Cecilius,  in  reality  the  status 
was  altogether  changed.  In  the  first  place, 
there  was  no  fundamental  difference  of  faith 
between  the  Proprietary  and  the  great  major- 
ity of  his  colonists,  and  the  former  fears,  sus- 
picions, and  incitements  to  revolt  were  at  an 
end.  There  might  henceforth  be  Catholics 
and  Protestants  in  the  Province,  but  not  a 
Catholic  and  a  Protestant  party.  In  the 
second  place,  the  reinstatement  of  the  Propri- 
etary seemed  tantamount  to  a  confirmation  of 
the  charter.  These  facts  tended  to  strengthen 
the  Proprietary's  power.  On  the  other  hand, 
almost  a  generation  of  royal  government,  the 
increase  of  population  and  wealth,  the  youth 
of  Baltimore,  even  the  very  fact  that  he  could 
have  no  partisans  where  he  had  no  adversaries, 
nor  reap  the  benefit  of  personal  loyalt}'^  when 
that  did  not  conflict  with  loyalty  to  the  crown, 
—  these  all  tended  to  make  the  change  one  of 


204  MARYLAND: 

form  rather  than  substance,  and  henceforth  the 
career  of  Maryland  does  not  greatly  differ  from 
those  of  the  other  colonies. 

One  noble  legacy  the  royal  government  had 
left,  as  almost  its  last  act  and  parting  gift  to 
the  Province.  The  laws  had  fallen  into  much 
confusion,  with  abrogations,  alterations,  expira- 
tions, and  reenactments,  and  for  some  time  the 
crown  had  been  urging  their  thorough  revision. 
In  1715  this  was  done  by  the  Assembly,  and  a 
body  of  laws  framed,  which  may^  almost  be 
called  a  code,  and  a  copy  of  this  code  was 
sent  to  every  county.  So  satisfactorily  was 
the  work  done,  that  it  remained,  broadly  speak- 
ing, the  law  of  the  Province,  and,  fundament- 
ally, the  law  of  the  State,  almost  to  our  own 
times. 

As  we  have  seen  at  the  beginning  of  this 
sketch,  the  colony  was  at  all  times  inclined  to 
hold  on  to  the  common  law  of  England,  nor 
was  any  very  sharp  distinction  drawn  between 
the  common  and  the  statute  law  as  applicable 
to  those  cases  in  which  the  Provincial  law  was 
silent.  But  how  far  the  statutes  of  England 
were  pleadable  in  the  Provincial  courts,  was  a 
point  on  which  there  was  much  dissension  at 
various  times ;  the  Upper  House  and  the  Pro- 
prietary preferring  that  if  there  were  any  ex- 
tension of  the  English  statutes  to  Maryland,  it 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A   PALATINATE.  205 

should  be  restricted  to  such  as  were  most  suit- 
able to  the  Province,  or  least  infringed  upon  his 
chartered  rights  ;  while  the  Lower  House,  on 
the  other  hand,  wished  to  introduce  the  whole, 
or  to  leave  the  power  of  selection  to  the  courts. 
In  1722  an  act  was  passed  recognising  the 
extension  to  the  Province  of  an  English  statute, 
in  opposition  to  previous  decisions  of  the  Pro- 
vincial Court ;  and,  at  the  same  session,  a  series 
of  resolutions  was  adopted  by  the  Lower  House, 
defining  the  attitude  of  the  Province  toward  the 
English  law,  and  the  relations  of  the  people  to 
the  mother-country.  They  planted  themselves 
at  once  on  their  rights  as  free  Englishmen,  and 
on  the  letter  of  the  charter,  declaring  that  "  this 
Province  is  not  under  the  circumstance  of  a 
conquered  comitry  ;  that  if  it  were,  the  present 
Christian  inhabitants  thereof  would  be  in  the 
circumstance  not  of  the  conquered,  but  of  the 
conquerors,  it  being  a  colony  of  the  English 
nation,  encouraged  by  the  crown  to  transplant 
themselves  hither,  for  the  sake  of  improving 
and  enlarging  its  dominions ;  which,  by  the 
blessing  of  God  upon  their  endeavors,  at  their 
own  expense  and  labour,  has  been  in  great 
measure  obtained ;  "  and  that,  "  whoever  shall 
advance  that  his  Majesty's  subjects,  by  such 
their  endeavors  and  success,  have  forfeited  any 
part  of  their  English  liberties,  are  ill-wishers 


206  MARYLAND: 

to  the  country,  and  mistake  its  happy  constitu- 
tion. 

"  Resolved  also,  that  if  thei*e  be  any  pretence 
of  conquest,  it  can  be  only  supposed  of  the 
native  Indians ;  which  supposition  cannot  be 
admitted,  because  the  inhabitants  purchased 
great  part  of  the  land  they  at  first  took  up 
from  the  Indians,  as  well  as  from  the  Lord 
Proprietary,  and  have  ever  since  continued  in 
an  amicable  course  of  trade  with  them,  except 
some  partial  outrages  and  skirmishes,  which 
never  amounted  to  a  general  war,  much  less  to 
a  general  conquest ;  the  Indians  yet  enjoying 
the  rights  and  privileges  of  treaties  and  trade, 
of  whom  we  frequently  purchase  their  rights 
of  such  lands  as  we  take  up,  as  well  as  of  the 
Lord  Proprietary. 

"  Resolved  further,  that  this  Province  hath 
always  hitherto  had  the  common  law  and  such 
general  statutes  of  England  as  are  not  re- 
strained by  words  of  local  limitation,  and  such 
acts  of  Assembly  as  were  made  in  the  Prov- 
ince to  suit  its  particular  constitution,  as  the 
rule  and  standard  of  its  government  and  judi- 
cature." And  they  further  declare,  that  those 
who  maintain  the  contrary  "  intend  to  infringe 
our  English  liberties,  and  to  frustrate  the  in- 
tent of  the  crown  in  the  original  grant  of  this 
Province."     And  to  show  that  this  was  meant 


THE  HISTORY   OF  A  PALATINATE.         207 

as  a  solemn  Declaration  of  Rights,  they  placed 
it  on  record  that  these  resolutions  grew  out 
of  no  present  irritation  or  apprehension,  "  but 
were  intended  to  assert  their  rights  and  lib- 
erties, and  to  transmit  the  sense  thereof,  and 
of  the  nature  of  their  constitution,  to  poster- 
ity." 

The  Upper  House  refused  to  concur  in  these 
resolutions,  and  the  Proprietary  dissented  from 
the  Act,  but  these  words  were  of  the  kind  that 
do  not  die.  They  led  to  a  contest  between  the 
Houses  which  lasted  for  j^ears,  and  ended  in  a 
virtual  triiimph  for  the  Lower  House.  The 
acts  and  usages  of  the  Province  were  to  be  its 
code  ;  but  where  these  were  silent,  the  laws  and 
statutes  of  England,  as  practised  within  the 
Province.  Thus,  without  abandoning  their 
right  to  self-government,  they  secured  for  them- 
selves the  benefits  of  the  English  law  so  far  as 
it  suited  them.  Nothing  better  shows  the  tem- 
per of  the  Marylanders,  or  illustrates  the  igno- 
rance and  blindness  of  the  English  fifty  years 
later,  who  talked  of  "  our  subjects  in  America," 
and  were  amazed  at  the  exasperation  of  the 
Americans  at  finding  themselves  treated  as 
men  who  had  somehow  forfeited  their  birth- 
right by  extending  the  British  empire  beyond 
the  seas.  It  needs  but  these  resolutions  to  ex- 
plain  what   Burke   calls   the  "  fierce  spirit  of 


208  MARYLAND: 

liberty  "  which  sprang  up  in  answer  to  the  at- 
tempt to  lay  a  tax  upon  the  colonists  by  a  body 
in  which  they  were  not  represented. 

The  Jacobite  party  in  England  had  many 
well-wishers  in  Maryland,  and  their  presence 
gave  rise  to  almost  as  many  fears  and  suspi- 
cions as  were  rife  in  the  mother-country. 
Knowing  this  fact,  they  kept  quiet  for  the 
most  part,  but  could  not  always  check  the  rash- 
ness and  folly  of  some.  On  the  night  of  June 
10,  1716,  the  Pretender's  birthday,  some  hot- 
headed youths,  one  of  whom  was  a  nephew  of 
Charles  Carroll,  Lord  Baltimore's  agent,  got 
possession  of  the  cannon  of  the  fort  at  Annap- 
olis and  fired  a  salute.  Governor  Hart  suc- 
ceeded in  having  the  offenders  arrested  and 
imprisoned,  whereupon  Mr.  Carroll,  stretching 
the  very  extensive  powers  he  had  or  claimed, 
released  his  nephew.  The  whole  business 
brought  about  much  bad  blood. 

The  proceeding  was  all  the  more  foolhardy 
that  in  England  the  party  had  made  their  great 
stroke  and  failed.  The  rising  under  Mar  and 
Derwentwater,  in  1715,  had  terminated  in  dis- 
astrous defeat.  The  hands  of  the  crown  were 
loaded  with  prisoners,  and  the  very  doubtful 
policy  was  adopted  of  sending  them  to  the  col- 
onies ;  much  to  the  discontent  of  the  provincial 
legislatures,    who    thought   they    had   already 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  209 

trouble  enough  with  their  native  Jacobites, 
without  any  alien  reinforcements,  and  moreover 
strongly  objected  to  having  the  provinces  con- 
verted into  penal  settlements.  Two  shiploads 
of  these  prisoners,  mostly  Scotchmen,  were  sent 
over  to  Maryland  in  1717,  and  they  were  al- 
lowed to  choose  between  indenting  themselves 
as  servants  for  seven  years,  and  being  sold  for 
the  same  term  of  servitude.  Their  lot  was 
probably  not  so  hard  as  it  sounded,  nor  was  the 
Province  the  worse  for  the  presence  of  men 
whose  only  fault  was  fidelity  to  a  hopeless 
cause  and  an  unworthy  chief.  Some  charita- 
ble persons,  perhaps  of  Jacobite  leanings,  pur- 
chased several  and  set  them  free,  which  they 
were  allowed  to  do  on  giving  security  for  their 
good  behavior  and  continuance  in  the  Province. 

The  years  which  now  followed  were  among 
the  least  eventful  in  Maryland's  history.  Gov- 
ernor Hart  was  removed,  and  succeeded  by 
Charles  Calvert,  uncle  of  the  Proprietary ;  and 
on  his  death,  in  1726,  Lord  Baltimore's  brother, 
Benedict  Leonard,  was  appointed.  Ill  health 
compelled  his  resignation  in  1731,  and  he  sailed 
for  England,  but  died  on  the  voyage.  His  suc- 
cessor was  Samuel  Ogle. 

One  important  event  marks  this  peaceful 
time,  and  that  was  the  foundation  of  Baltimore. 
Maryland  had  never  taken  kindly  to  towns, 
14 


210  MARYLAND: 

and  though  in  Queen  Anne's  reign,  in  conform- 
ity with  the  royal  wish,  a  number  were  founded, 
the  reluctant  Assembly  "  erecting  "  them  by 
batches —  forty-two  at  once  in  1706  —  scarcely 
any  passed  beyond  the  embryonic  stage.  The 
land  might  be  surveyed,  staked  off  in  lots,  and 
offered  for  sale;  but  if  people  would  not  buy 
and  build,  what  could  be  done  ?  The  "  port," 
solemnly  invested  with  rights  of  entry  and  clear- 
ance, remained  a  mere  landing-place  and  load- 
ing-wharf. The  county-seat  had  its  court-house 
and  jail,  its  stocks  and  pillory,  but  their  attrac- 
tions were  insufficient  to  lure  the  planter  from 
his  home  embowered  in  trees,  in  the  midst  of 
his  broad  acres. 

St.  Mary's  and  Annapolis,  the  one  waning  as 
the  other  waxed,  remained  the  only  real  towns 
of  the  colony  for  the  first  ninety  years  of  its 
existence.  Joppa,  on  the  Gunpowder,  was  the 
next,  and  had  a  fair  share  of  prosperity  for  fifty 
years  and  more,  until  her  young  and  more  vig- 
orous rival,  Baltimore,  drew  off  her  trade,  and 
she  gradually  dwindled,  peaked,  and  pined 
away  to  a  solitary  house  and  a  grass-grown 
grave-yard,  wherein  slumber  the  mortal  remains 
of  her  ancient  citizens. 

Baltimore  on  the  Patapsco  was  not  the  first 
to  bear  that  appellation.  At  least  two  Balti- 
mores  had  a  name,  if  not  a  local  habitation,  and 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  211 

perished,  if  they  can  be  said  ever  to  have 
rightly  existed,  before  their  younger  sister  saw 
the  light.  There  was  a  Baltimore  laid  off  on 
Bush  River  in  Baltimore  County  in  1683,  and 
another  in  Dorchester  County,  ten  years  later, 
but  the  records  are  dumb  as  to  their  history 
and  no  stone  marks  their  sites. 

In  1729,  the  planters  near  the  Patapsco, 
feeling  the  need  of  a  convenient  port,  made 
application  to  the  Assembly,  and  an  act  was 
passed  authorising  the  purchase  of  the  neces- 
sary land,  whereupon  sixty  acres  bounding  on 
the  northwest  branch  of  the  river,  at  the  part  of 
the  harbor  now  called  the  Basin,  were  bought 
of  Daniel  and  Charles  Carroll  at  forty  shillings 
the  acre.  The  streets  and  lots  were  laid  off  in 
the  following  January,  and  purchasers  invited. 
The  water-fronts  were  immediately  taken  up, 
which  shows  that  the  first  settlers  were  looking 
to  advantages  of  shipping  rather  than  habita- 
tion. The  harbor  was  excellent ;  and  though 
hills,  gullies,  and  marshes  bordered  the  town  on 
three  sides,  probably  none  of  the  founders  of 
Baltimore  imagined  a  time  when  it  would  be 
straitened  in  its  original  sixty  acres,  when  it 
would  drain  its  marshes,  tunnel  its  gullies,  and 
partly  level  and  partly  climb  its  rocky  hills. 

Any  one  looking  at  a  physical  chart  will  see 
that  Baltimore    is   a   meeting-place   of    many 


212  MARYLAND: 

things.  It  lies  at  the  head  of  tide-water,  oi 
junction  of  the  foot-hills  with  the  plain  ;  at  the 
junction  of  the  granite,  gneiss,  and  slate  with 
the  deposits  of  gravel,  clay,  and  iron  ore  ;  at  the 
junction  of  the  region  of  oaks,  chestnuts,  and 
beeches  with  that  of  pines  and  magnolias.  Its 
mild  climate,  with  a  mean  annual  temperature 
of  54°,  and  its  exemption  from  the  epidemics 
that  visit  the  ports  to  the  south,  make  it  in 
these  respects  the  most  favored  of  all  cities  on 
the  Atlantic  seaboard.  Yet  it  grew  but  slowly 
at  first,  and  in  twenty  years  had  only  about 
twenty  dwellings  and  perhaps  one  hundred  in- 
habitants. 

While  the  order  of  the  Privy  Council  in  1685 
had  settled  the  question  of  Maryland's  eastern 
boundary  by  dividing  Delaware  between  the 
Proprietaries,  the  northern  boundary  still  re- 
mained undetermined.  It  is  true  that  there 
was  no  conflict  between  the  grants  in  this  re- 
spect, that  of  Penn  assigning  the  parallel  of 
40°  as  his  southern  boundary,  as  it  was  Balti- 
more's northern  ;  but  Penn's  persistent  refusal 
to  join  Baltimore  in  fixing  that  parallel  had 
kept  the  matter  still  unsettled.  After  his 
death,  in  1718,  his  sons,  now  joint  proprietors, 
renewed  their  father's  tactics,  and  by  some  un- 
explained means  obtained  from  Charles,  Lord 
Baltimore,    in    1732,  a    written    agreement  by 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.         213 

which  he  yielded  all  that  they  demanded,  and 
presented  them  with  two  and  a  half  millions  of 
acres  of  territory  to  which  they  had  not  even 
the  shadow  of  a  claim.  The  boundary  line  was 
to  be  drawn  northward  through  the  middle  of 
the  Delaware  peninsula,  and  tangent  to  a  circle 
twelve  miles  from  New  Castle,  thence  north  to 
a  point  fifteen  miles  south  of  Philadelphia, 
"whence  it  should  run  due  west  so  far  as  the 
provinces  were  conterminous.  Commissioners 
"were  to  meet  on  both  sides  to  fix  the  points. 

Baltimore  came  out  to  Maryland  in  person 
in  1732,  appointed  his  Commissioners,  and  two 
attempts  were  made  to  have  a  meeting  at  New 
Castle,  but  the  business  was  frustrated  by  the 
non-attendance  of  the  Pennsylvanians.  Balti- 
more now  proposed  a  meeting  at  Joppa,  but 
this  was  refused. 

Baltimore,  however,  now  had  his  eyes  opened 
to  the  immense  sacrifice  he  had  made,  and  he 
tried  to  fortify  his  position  by  applying  to 
George  II.  for  a  confirmation  of  his  charter, 
despite  the  phrase  Tiactenus  inculta.  Such  a 
confirmation,  in  the  fullest  form,  had  already 
been  given  by  Charles  I.,  as  has  before  been 
shown  ;  but  probably  the  House  of  Brunswick 
did  not  consider  itself  bound  by  the  promise  of 
a  Stuart.  Tliis  phrase,  however,  in  whatever 
manner  construed,  only  affected  the  Penns'  claim 


214  MARYLAND: 

to  Delaware  ;  and  the  northern  boundary  could 
have  been  run  in  conformity  with  both  charters, 
but  for  Baltimore's  voluntary  and  inexplicable 
surrender  of  his  rights  without  reason  or  com- 
pensation. 

The  unsettled  state  of  the  boundary  led  to 
disturbances  between  the  Provinces  which  con- 
tinued for  several  years.  The  Palatines,  or  Ger- 
man immigrants  originally  from  the  Palatinate, 
some  fifty  or  sixty  families  of  whom  had  taken 
up  land  in  Baltimore  County,  were  persuaded 
bj'  the  lures  of  exemption  from  militia  duty  and 
the  forty  per  poll,  to  declare  their  allegiance  to 
Pennsylvania  and  refuse  to  pay  taxes  to  Mary- 
land, Sheriffs  on  both  sides  summoned  posses 
and  made  inroads  into  the  debatable  territory, 
arresting  and  carrying  off  prisoners ;  houses 
were  attacked  by  armed  bands,  and  men  on 
both  sides  beaten  or  dragged  off  to  prison. 
Sheriff  Buchanan,  of  Lancaster  County,  with 
a  party,  enters  the  house  of  a  Dutchman,  one 
Loughman  or  Lachmann,  a  Marylander,  and 
beats  him  unmercifully.  His  wife  interposes, 
and  the  discourteous  sheriff  beats  her,  until 
Lachmann  consents  to  go  with  him  as  his  pris- 
oner. But  on  the  way  they  meet  five  Dutch- 
men, who,  seeing  the  plight  of  their  country- 
man, set  on  the  sheriff,  rout  his  posse,  and  carry 
lim  off  into  captivity. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  215 

One  of  the  boldest  of  the  Maryland  partisans 
was  Thomas  Cresap,  a  stout  borderer  and  good 
fighter,  against  whom  the  wrath  of  the  Penn- 
sylvanians  burned  hot.  At  one  time  a  party 
burst  into  his  house,  with  brandished  weapons, 
threatening  to  burn  the  house  and  hang  him. 
At  another  time  a  larger  party  surrounded  his 
house,  set  it  in  flames,  and  fired  on  the  inmates 
as  they  tried  to  escape.  In  this  affray  one  man 
wa,3  killed  and  several  wounded,  among  the  lat- 
ter Cresap  himself,  who  was  borne  off  in  tri- 
umph and  lodged  in  the  jail  at  Philadelphia. 

Governor  Ogle,  after  in  vain  trying  to  have 
Cresap  released,  ordered  the  arrest  of  a  dozen 
of  the  ringleaders  in  this  business,  which  was 
done  by  a  party  of  Marylanders.  Proclama- 
tion answered  proclamation,  sheriffs'  posses  al- 
ternately harried  the  country,  adventurous  men 
led  forays,  and  a  state  of  border  warfare  pre- 
vailed which  unfortunately  has  found  no  poet, 
or  at  least  none  in  the  English  tongue. 

By  1736  the  state  of  affairs  on  the  border 
had  grown  so  alarming  that  the  Governor  and 
Assembly  laid  the  matter  before  the  Proprie- 
tary and  the  King,  entreating  the  intervention 
of  the  crown,  which  was  given  by  an  order  in 
Council  commanding  both  sides  to  keep  the 
peace,  and  enjoining  the  Proprietaries  to  grant 
no    lands    in    the    disputed    territory  until    the 


216  MARYLAND: 

boundary  had  been  adjusted.  To  put  an  end 
to  all  the  confusion  and  deray,  the  governors  of 
the  two  Provinces  agreed  to  run  a  provisional 
line  which  should  be  held  as  a  valid  boundary 
between  the  settlers  actually  in  possession,  un- 
til the  lino  should  be  finally  determined  by  a 
decision  of  the  English  Court  of  Chancery. 

"  King  George's  war,"  as  was  appropriately 
styled  the  war  with  France  which  sprang  out  of 
the  Austrian  succession,  and  into  which  England 
was  dragged  rather  than  entered,  had  little  ef- 
fect upon  Maryland.  The  colonj^  suffered  some 
disturbance,  and  more  alarm,  from  the  doings 
of  the  French  and  Indians,  and  sent  three  com- 
panies to  Albany  to  cooperate  in  a  conquest  of 
Canada,  which  was  not  to  be  till  later.  As 
usual,  there  was  a  crown  requisition  for  money 
in  a  rather  more  plausible  form  than  usual,  for 
it  was  to  pay  the  Maryland  forces  tempora- 
rily, until  Parliament  could  foot  the  whole  bill. 
The  Assembly,  politely  but  firmly,  told  Gov- 
ernor Ogle  that  they  had  raised  the  troops,  pro- 
visioned the  troops,  and  transported  the  troops, 
and  that  that  was  all  that  they  proposed  to  do ; 
and  this  he  had  to  take  for  his  answer. 

At  this  time,  we  are  informed  that  the  pop- 
ulation of  Maryland  was  about  94,000,  and 
36,000  negroes ;  that  iron  mines  and  furnaces 
were  operated,  and  pig-iron  shipped   to  Eng- 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  217 

laud,  in  addition  to  the  usual  staples  of  tobacco, 
corn,  furs,  aud  lumber ;  that'  the  annual  export 
of  tobacco  was  about  28,000  hogsheads,  and  that 
the  export  of  wheat  was  about  150,000  bushels. 
In  April,  1751,  Charles,  the  fifth  Lord  Balti- 
more, died,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Fred- 
erick, the  sixth  and  last  Baron,  a  degenerate 
scion  of  a  noble  stock,  a  selfish  and  grasping 
voluptuary,  who  cared  only  for  his  Province, 
which  he  never  visited,  as  a  source  of  revenue 
for  his  pleasures.  He  added  his  name  to  the 
list  of  noble  authors  by  an  indifferent  book  of 
travels,  and  came  near  adding  it  also  to  the  list 
of  noble  criminals,  by  figuring  as  the  traverser 
in  a  discreditable  trial  for  felony,  of  which, 
however,  he  was  acquitted.  The  previous  Pro- 
prietaries, either  by  personal  presence  in  the 
Province,  or  by  thoughtful  care  for  its  welfare, 
had  established  claims  on  the  affection  of  the 
people ;  but  Frederick  had  done  neither,  and 
thus  the  severance  of  the  tie  of  personal  loyalty 
to  the  Proprietary  loosened  another  of  the  fila- 
ments that  bound  the  people  to  England. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 
THE   FRENCH  WAR. 

And  now  we  approach  the  second  driving  of 
tho  wedge  that  was  to  detach  Maryland  from 
the  mother-country.  The  colonists  owed  their 
prosperity,  under  Providence,  to  nothing  but 
their  own  resolution  and  industry,  and  Eng- 
land had  only  meddled  with  them  to  despoil 
them  of  their  territory,  to  hamper  their  com- 
merce for  her  advantage,  or  to  demand  their 
money  for  her  treasury,  leaving  them,  in  other 
matters,  to  sink  or  swim  as  best  they  could. 
The  ostrich,  who  leaves  her  young  to  shift  for 
themselves,  is  not  usually  regarded  as  a  model 
of  maternal  tenderness  ;  yet  the  ostrich  does  not 
sti'aitly  limit  the  foraging-grounds  of  her  off- 
spring, or  make  requisitions  on  them  for  a  share 
of  their  hardly-won  sustenance.  Yet,  despite  all 
irritations,  the  attachment  to  England  was  still 
deep  and  strong.  This  was  partly  due  to  filial 
piety  toward  the  ancient  home  of  the  race,  the 
venerable  mother- land  whose  speech,  institu- 
tions, and  traditions  of  freedom  they  had  trans- 
planted to  the  western  world,  and  partly  to  re- 
liance  on    England's   protection.      The  parent 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  219 

might  be  harsh,  cold,  negligent,  and  exacting ; 
but  in  case  of  danger  it  "was  believed  that  her 
mighty  arm  would  interpose  to  shield  her  chil- 
dren. They  had  yet  to  learn  how  far  the  meas- 
ure of  her  help  would  be  meted  by  her  own 
advantage,  and  how  far,  in  this  case  also,  they 
must  rely  on  themselves. 

The  peace  of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  in  1748,  was 
in  reality  nothing  but  a  truce,  and  none  knew 
this  bettec  than  the  high  contracting  powers 
themselves.  It  was  simply  a  breathing-while 
before  the  struggle  for  the  possession  of  the 
Continent  began  in  earnest.  Had  other  old 
and  recent  grudges  been  lacking,  an  inevitable 
casus  belli  lay  in  the  conflicting  claims  to  the 
lands  west  of  the  Alleghanies.  England  claimed 
the  breadth  of  the  continent  from  the  Atlantic 
to  the  Pacific  ;  France,  in  virtue  of  the  discov- 
eries of  Cartier  and  La  Salle,  claimed  the  lands 
drained  by  the  St.  Lawrence  and  Mississippi 
and  their  aflluents.  It  was  evident  that  the 
line  of  demarcation  would  have  to  be  drawn  by 
the  sword  some  day. 

France  was  prompter  in  action,  and  Galis- 
soniere's  plan  of  a  chain  of  military  posts  link- 
ing Canada  with  Louisiana  began  to  be  realised 
with  a  rapidity  that  naturally  alarmed  the  Eng- 
lish, who  compared  it  to  a  net  which,  when 
complete,  would  gather  them  all  into  its  bight 


220  MARYLAND: 

and  sweep  them  into  the  sea.  In  1753  the  cor- 
don reached  from  Montreal  to  the  Riviere  aux 
Boeufs,  in  Pennsylvania,  and  it  was  plain  that 
if  anything  was  to  be  done,  there  was  no  time 
to  be  lost.  An  English  trading  association, 
called  the  Ohio  Company,  had  already  begun 
to  build  a  trading-post  at  the  confluence  of  the 
Alleghany  and  Monongahela,  and  Governor 
Dinwiddle  of  Virginia  now  sent  out  a  force 
under  the  command  of  Major  George  Wash- 
ington to  strengthen  it  with  fortifications  that 
should  hold  the  French  in  check.  But  before 
lie  could  reach  the  fort  it  had  already  been 
taken  by  the  French,  who  fortified  it,  garri- 
soned it  strongl}^  and  named  it  Fort  Du 
Quesne.  Washington,  learning  that  a  French 
force  was  advancing  to  attack  him,  threw  up 
hasty  defences,  but  was  compelled  to  surrender 
and  leave  the  French  strongly  planted  on  the 
Ohio. 

Before  this,  Dinwiddie,  thoroughly  awake  to 
the  danger,  had  represented  to  England  the 
necessity  for  vigorous  action,  and  had  addressed 
letters  to  the  other  provinces,  especially  Penn- 
sylvania and  Maryland,  which  were  most  en- 
dangered, asking  their  aid  and  cooperation. 

As  all  this  series  of  events  is  of  extraordinary 
interest,  and  had  momentous  and  far-reaching 
results,  it  is  allowable  to  treat  it  somewhat  in 


THE  HISTORY   OF  A   PALATINATE.         221 

fletail,  for  which  the  records  of  the  time  and 
the  MS.  letter-books  of  Governor  Sharpe  afford 
abundant  niateriaL 

Sharpe  laid  the  situation  before  the  Assem- 
bly, asking  substantial  help,  but  was  met  by  a 
dogged  reluctance  to  vote  money.  He  accounts 
for  their  general  perverseness  on  the  ground 
that  the  shortness  and  frequency  of  sessions 
made  gentlemen  of  means  and  standing  shun 
the  incc  nveniences  of  membership,  "  b}^  which 
means  there  are  too  many  instances  of  the  low- 
est persons,  at  least  those  of  small  fortunes,  no 
soul,  and  very  mean  capacities,  appearing  as 
representatives."  To  the  Lower  House  he  was 
still  bland  and  courteous,  but  a  quarrel  was 
evidently  brewing.  Tbe  Delegates  declared 
their  willingness  to  grant  <£ 6,000,  provided 
part  might  be  raised  by  a  tax  on  ordinary 
licenses  ;  but  this,  as  invading  the  Proprieta- 
ry's revenues,  Sharpe  would  by  no  means  con- 
sent to. 

Things  were  in  this  state  when  the  news  of 
Washington's  surrender  came  like  a  thunder- 
bolt. The  consequences  were  easy  to  foresee, 
and  the  settlers  near  the  Ohio  began  to  think 
of  abandoning  their  homes.  News  came  from 
New  York  that  the  Canada  Indians,  the  fiercest 
and  most  cruel  of  all,  were  taking  the  war-path. 
Again  Sharpe  urged  the  danger,  and  again  the 


222  MARYLAND: 

men  of  no  soul  planted  themselves  on  the 
license-tax.  Sliarpe  yielded,*  and  tbe  Lower 
House  scored  one.  He  now  began  to  raise  a 
force,  the  command  of  which  was  given  to  Cap- 
tain Dagworthy,  a  very  efficient  officer.  A  fort 
had  been  built,  shortly  after  Washington's  sur- 
render, by  Colonel  Innes  and  the  independent 
companies  at  Wills  Creek,  near  the  site  of  the 
present  city  of  Cumberland,  and  named  Fort 
Cumberland  in  honor  of  the  "  Butcher  of  Cullo- 
den,"  and  this  served  as  an  outpost  of  defence. 
Washington  having  resigned  his  commission  in 
consequence  of  an  order  from  England,  making 
officers  with  crown  commissions  outrank  all 
provincial  officers,  a  commission  was  sent  out 
to  Sharpe,  who  was  a  man  of  military  training, 
appointing  him  commander  of  the  provincial 
forces  at  Fort  Cumberland. 

He  at  once  hastened  to  Annapolis  and  con- 
vened a  new  Assembly,  before  whom  he  laid 
the  situation.  As  Virginia  had  voted  X20,000 
for  a  defence-fund,  and  New  York  ,£5,000,  it 
was  to  be  hoped  that  Maryland  would  not  be 
slack,  but  would  provide  for  an  active  cam- 
paign in  the  spring.  His  hopes,  however,  were 
by  no  means  sanguine,  for  he  knew  his  men  ; 
and  brooding  with  gloomy  anticipations  over 
the  question  of  ways  and  means,  he  dropped  a 
seed  in  his  letters  to  England,  which  was  to 


THE   HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  223 

bear  memorable  fruit.  The  main  difficulty  was 
to  devise  some  plan  for  raising  money  inde- 
pendent of  the  Assembly,  yet  which  would  not 
infringe  the  Proprietary's  rights  nor  diminish 
his  revenue.  Such  a  plan  he  thought  he  had 
found  in  a  stamp-tax.  England  was  to  send  out 
stamps  of  various  denominations,  to  be  affixed 
to  all  documents  of  legal  value,  the  proceeds  of 
the  sales  to  be  applied  to  the  defence  of  the 
colonies. 

The  Lower  House,  as  he  had  expected  they 
would,  raised  difficulties  on  the  supply  question. 
They  were  willing  to  increase  their  <£6,000  to 
.£7,000  ;  but  not  satisfied  with  concession  on 
the  subject  of  licenses,  they  had  now  another 
condition.  In  1733  there  had  been  an  emission 
of  X 90,000  in  paper  currency,  with  a  provision 
for  its  gradual  conversion  and  redemption,  and 
of  this  in  1754  some  <£4,000  remained  unre- 
deemed ;  so  the  Delegates  took  the  ground  that 
the  unredeemed  bills  had  all  been  lost  or  de- 
stroyed, and  therefore  a  new  issue  to  that 
amount  would  not  increase  the  sum  originally 
intended  for  redemption.  They  accordingly 
coupled  their  vote  with  a  proviso  that  of  the 
X 7,000,  four  thousand  should  be  an  issue  of 
paper  money.  Sharpe  refused  to  sign  such  a 
bill,  so  again  there  was  a  deadlock,  and  he 
prorogued  the   Assembly   in   despair.      There 


224  MARY  LAM): 

was  no  difficulty,  however,  in  raising  men ;  but 
as  for  supporting  and  paying  tbem,  Sliarpe 
thought  that  nothing  could  be  done  unless  Par- 
liament would  pass  a  law  compelling  the  col- 
onies to  support  their  own  troops,  —  a  device 
on  which  he  brooded  until  it  became  a  fixed 
idea  with  him. 

General  Braddock  arrived  in  February,  with 
a  thousand  regulars  and  a  train  of  artillery,  and 
took  the  command  in  chief.  Sir  John  St.  Clair 
had  arrived  before,  and  with  Sharpe  had  sur- 
veyed the  country  of  future  operations,  and 
descended  the  Potomac  by  water  to  see  how  far 
it  was  navigable.  All  were  now  full  of  confi- 
dence that  with  a  brave  and  experienced  com- 
mander, with  a  force  of  invincible  British  regu- 
lars as  the  nucleus  of  an  army  of  volunteers, 
their  troubles  would  soon  be  at  an  end  ;  while 
the  Governor  indulged  some  hope  that  the  As- 
sembly would  be  less  impracticable,  and  the 
Assembly,  that  the  expenses  of  the  campaign 
would  be  borne  by  England. 

But  new  troubles  were  in  store :  Braddock's 
men  in  their  march  carried  off  servants,  wagons, 
and  horses,  and  the  complaints  of  the  farmers 
highly  exasperated  the  Assembly.  Braddock, 
too,  was  disposed  to  find  fault  that  no  joint 
fund  had  been  raised  by  the  colonies  for  their 
defence,  and  was  by  no  means  content  with  the 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.         225 

explanation  which  the  assembled  governors 
gave,  that  they  could  raise  no  money  but  by 
the  consent  of  their  Assemblies.  He  could  not 
see  why  more  drastic  measures  should  not  be 
used. 

Braddock's  march  was  slow,  as  he  advanced 
in  Roman  fashion,  making  a  road  as  he  went. 
The  movements  of  the  Assembly  were  also 
slow,  though  their  chief  business  was  to  frame 
a  supply-bill  that  the  Governor  was  certain  to 
reject.  But  the  Indians,  who  needed  neither 
roads  nor  supplies,  were  prompt  in  action, 
swooping  down  on  the  unhappy  settlers  in 
Frederick  County,  burning  their  houses  and 
kilhng  or  carrying  off  the  inhabitants,  while 
the  army  was  accomplishing  its  two  miles  a 
day.  The  Assembly,  on  the  distress  and  dan- 
ger being  forcibly  represented  to  them  by 
Sharpe,  provided  X2,000  for  a  body  of  rangers 
to  hover  on  the  frontier,  but  was  most  inter- 
ested in  reviving  the  penal  laws  against  the 
Catholics  (to  which  Sharpe,  to  his  honor,  would 
not  consent)  and  in  a  petty  quarrel  about  a 
custom-house  appointment.  And  this  was  on 
the  8th  of  July,  when  Braddock  was  almost  in 
sight  of  Fort  Du  Quesne,  which  he  was  fated 
uever  to  see. 

The  news  of  Braddock's  disaster  did  not 
reach  Annapolis  until  the  15th  of  July.     The 

15 


226  MARYLAND: 

Assembly  had  been  prorogued,  and  Sharpe  hur- 
ried off  for  Fort  Cumberland,  where  he  found 
all  in  consternation.  The  settlers  vpere  flying 
in  all  directions,  and  many  had  sought  shelter 
in  the  fort.  Dunbar,  with  the  remains  of  the 
army,  had  taken  refuge  there,  but  instead  of 
making  a  stand,  he  announced  his  intention  of 
retiring  to  Philadelphia,  thus  leaving  the  whole 
frontier  defenceless  ;  and  nothing  that  Sharpe 
could  say  could  change  his  purpose. 

Sharpe  tried  to  put  some  heart  into  the 
frightened  people,  and  ordered  a  line  of  small 
stockades  built,  while  he  placed  Fort  Cumber- 
land in  charge  of  Major  Dagworthy  and  a 
party  of  provincial  troops,  who  were  supported 
by  private  subscriptions. 

But  the  French  and  Indians  ranged  pretty 
much  at  their  pleasure.  Happily  for  the  col- 
onies, the  garrison  of  Fort  Du  Quesne,  on  the 
conviction  that  all  danger  in  that  quarter  was 
now  over,  had  nearly  all  been  summoned  north 
to  meet  the  expected  attacks  at  Niagara  and 
Crown  Point ;  while  the  Indians,  according  to 
their  custom  after  a  successful  expedition,  had 
disbanded  and  gone  home.  But  there  were 
enough  left  to  commit  outrages  which  spread 
terror  through  the  western  settlements.  Man- 
gled bodies  of  tortured  men  were  found  in  the 
woods;  farm-houses  were  burned  and  families 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.         ?27 

murdered,  and  parties  of  rangers  cut  off.  The 
country  was  a  desert  west  of  Conecocheague, 
and  Sharpe  believed  that  all  the  land  beyond 
FredericktowTi  would  soon  be  abandoned.  The 
Shenandoah  was  now  the  western  frontier  of 
Virginia. 

As  a  specimen  of  the  kind  of  tidings  which 
came  in  from  day  to  day,  take  an  extract  from 
the  "  Maryland  Gazette,"  of  October  9th  :  — 

"  By  a  person  who  arrived  in  town  last  Monday, 
from  Col.  Cresap's,  we  are  told  that  last  "Wednesday 
morning  the  Indians  had  taken  a  man  prisoner  who 
was  going  to  Fort  Cumberland  from  Frazier's,  and 
had  also  carried  off  a  woman  from  Frazier's  planta- 
tion, which  is  four  miles  on  this  side  Fort  Cumber- 
land. The  same  morning  they  fell  in  with  a  man 
and  his  wife  who  had  left  their  plantations  and  were 
retiring  into  the  more  populous  parts  of  the  country  ; 
they  shot  the  horse  on  which  the  man  rid,  but  as  it 
did  not  fall  immediately,  he  made  his  escape  ;  the 
woman,  it  is  supposed,  fell  into  their  hands,  as  neither 
she  nor  the  horse  on  which  she  was  riding  have  been 
since  seen  or  heard  of.  The  same  party  of  Indians 
have  also  killed  or  carried  off  Benjamin  Rogers, 
his  wife  and  seven  children,  and  Edmund  Marie  of 
Frederick  County.  On  Patterson's  Creek  many 
families  have  within  this  month  been  murdered,  car. 
ried  away,  or  burnt  in  their  houses,  by  a  party  of 
these  barbarians,  who  have  entirely  broke  up  that 
settlement." 


228  MARYLAND: 

What  was  Frederick  Lord  Baltimore  doing 
all  this  time  ?  The  burden  of  his  letters,  to 
judge  from  Sharpe's  answers,  consisted  of  four 
notes  :  to  find  good  places  for  favorites  whom 
be  sent  out ;  to  see  that  his  rents  and  revenues 
were  collected  and  remitted  promptly  ;  to  keep 
a  sharp  eye  on  the  Roman  Catholics,  and  to 
send  him  Maryland  partridges  and  dried  rattle- 
snakes. 

When  the  spring  opened,  the  Indian  ravages 
were  more  ferocious  than  ever.  Washington, 
who  had  superseded  Dagworthy  in  command  at 
Fort  Cumberland,  sent  to  Dinwiddle  moving 
pictures  of  the  general  terror  and  distress,  and 
declared  that  in  a  few  days,  unless  something 
was  done,  there  would  not  be  fifteen  families 
left  in  Frederick  County. 

In  May  the  Assembly  met  and  the  supply 
question  again  arose.  The  House  was  willing 
to  consent  to  a  bill,  provided  the  Proprietary's 
manors  were  taxed  and  a  double  tax  laid  on  the 
Catholics  ;  and  provided  also  that  all  the  other 
colonies  contributed.  As  there  was  then  no 
hope  of  the  Pennsylvanians  doing  anything, 
Sharpe  was  in  despair ;  but  at  last  they  re- 
ceded from  their  third  condition  and  prepared  a 
bill  which  the  Governor  signed,  excusing  him- 
self to  his  lordship  on  the  ground  that  unless 
something  was  done  without  delay,  the  whole 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE  229 

Province  west  of  the  bay  might  be  depopulated, 
and  that  it  was  better  to  pay  a  tax  on  his  man- 
ors than  lose  half  his  revenues  and  his  manors 
to  boot.  So  the  delegates  scored  another  point. 
Possibly  they  might  not  have  made  their  single 
concession,  had  not  the  enraged  settlers  of 
Frederick  County  threatened  to  march  upon 
Annapolis,  with  Cresap  at  their  head,  and  com- 
pel them  to  come  to  terms. 

As  for  the  treatment  of  the  Catholics,  it  was 
the  old  story.  Every  Catholic  was  supposed  to 
be  inclined  to  befriend  the  French,  and  to  re- 
joice in  secret  at  the  calamities  of  the  Protest- 
ants. Sharpe  was  a  thorough  Protestant,  and 
probably  shared  to  some  extent  the  prevalent 
suspicions ;  but  he  was  an  honorable  man,  and 
neither  for  the  Proprietary  nor  the  Delegates 
would  he  calumniate  the  innocent.  He  tells 
Lord  Baltimore  that  the  papists  are  only  one 
twelfth  of  the  whole  population  ;  that  they  are 
nearly  all  of  the  better  class,  and  that  their  con- 
duct is  above  reproach  ;  nor  does  he  see  any 
ground  for  suspecting  them.  As  for  the  double 
tax,  he  sees  no  objection  to  that. 

Less  fortunate  were  the  hapless  Acadians, 
who  had  the  double  misfortune  of  beinof  French 

o 

as  well  as  papists.  In  their  cruel  deportation 
from  Nova  Scotia  in  1755,  five  shiploads  were 
sent  to  Annapolis,  where  they  certainly  were 


230  MARYLAND: 

not  wanted,  and  thence  distributed  among  the 
different  counties.  Their  lot  was  hard  :  though 
subjects  of  Great  Britain,  they  were  treated  as 
prisoners  of  war ;  yet  without  the  prisoner's 
hope  of  exchange  or  release.  People  would 
not  employ  them,  and  yet  were  irritated  at 
their  wretchedness  and  destitution.  However, 
here  and  there  they  found  humanity ;  and 
among  those  who  befriended  them,  Henry  Cal- 
lister,  a  merchant  of  Oxford,  Talbot  Count}'-, 
deserves  honorable  mention.  He  forwarded  an 
address  on  their  behalf  to  the  King  ;  he  peti- 
tioned Governor  Sharpe  for  them,  and  he  gave 
large  sums  from  his  own  pocket  to  relieve  their 
sufferings,  to  the  serious  impairment  of  his  own 
very  moderate  fortune. 

The  bill  which  the  Assembly  passed  pro- 
vided for  a  sum  of  <£ 40,000,  to  be  employed 
in  building  forts,  raising  troops,  securing  the 
alliance  of  the  southern  Indians,  and  paying 
bounties  on  Indian  scalps.  Bills  of  credit  were 
issued,  and  a  sinking  fund  for  their  redemption 
provided  by  additional  taxes  and  duties.  Among 
these  was  a  tax  on  bachelors,  as  men  who  were 
derelict  in  a  citizen's  first  duty  at  a  time  when 
it  was  most  imperative  ;  though,  with  some  in- 
consistency, there  was  no  provision  for  exempt- 
ing Catholic  bachelors. 

With    that    irrationality    which    always   at- 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.         231 

tended  colonial  affairs,  while  all  these  things 
were  going  on,  and  war,  in  various  forms,  was 
raging  from  the  Niagara  to  the  Potomac,  Eng- 
land and  France  were  nominally  at  peace.  The 
formal  declaration  of  war  was  received  in  Mary- 
land on  July  18, 1756,  and  welcomed  with  great 
rejoicings,  probably  in  expectation  that  England 
would  now  put  forth  her  full  strength  in  behalf 
of  the  colonies,  and  open  her  purse  liberally. 

As  Fort  Cumberland  was  too  remote  and 
isolated  to  be  of  any  service,  and  as  stockade 
forts  were  too  easily  burned,  Sharpe  built  a 
substantial  fort  of  stone  near  the  site  of  the 
present  town  of  Hancock,  whicli  he  named 
Fort  Frederick,  probably  as  a  double  compli- 
ment to  the  Proprietary  and  the  heir-apparent 
to  the  crown,  and  garrisoned  with  about  two 
hundred  men,  under  Dagworthy.  This  was 
all  the  more  necessary  that  the  flight  of  the 
Pennsylvanians  had  left  the  northern  as  well 
as  the  western  frontier  of  Maryland  exposed. 

Governor  Shirley  of  Massachusetts  had  been 
the  commander-in-chief  since  Braddock's  death, 
but  he  was  now  superseded  by  Lord  Loudoun, 
who  came  over  in  the  summer,  and,  at  the  re- 
quest of  the  latter,  Sharpe  convened  the  As- 
sembly in  September.  England  had  advanced 
a  considerable  sum  for  distribution  among  the 
colonies,  and  this,  far  from  inspiring   the  As- 


232  MARYLAND: 

sembly  with  liberality,  made  them  still  more 
inclined  to  refuse  supplies. 

In  1757  the  small-pox  was  raging  in  An- 
napolis, and  the  Assembly  met  in  Baltimore 
town.  They  now  proposed  to  raise  supplies 
by  taxes  on  all  real  and  personal  estate,  the 
Proprietary's  rents  included,  and  on  all  offices 
and  professions,  the  people  to  appoint  the 
assessors.  Furtliermore,  as  if  bent  on  exasper- 
ating Loudoun  as  well  as  the  Governor,  they  un- 
dertook to  say  where  the  troops  that  his  lord- 
ship was  about  send  to  the  Province  should  be 
quartered.  Loudoun  heard  all  this  with  in- 
dignant astonishment,  and  reported  it  duly  to 
England.  Sharpe  was  now  in  hopes  that  Par- 
liament would  interfere  directl}^  and  "  ease  the 
Assembly  of  the  trouble  of  framing  supply- 
bills  by  making  some  for  them,"  in  which  case 
he  begs  to  recommend  a  poll-tax  as  the  most 
acceptable  to  the  people,  and,  at  the  same  time, 
the  most  equitable,  men  in  the  Province  usually 
having  servants  in  proportion  to  their  means. 

To  the  Governor's  immense  disgust,  the 
Lower  House  even  assumed  the  right  to  sum- 
mon  his  secretary  before  them  and  interrogate 
him  about  the  doings  of  his  Excellency  and  the 
Council.  Sharpe  rebuked  them  sharply  for  it ; 
but  who  could  tell  where  these  things  would 
end  ?     Nay,  an  impression  seemed  to  be  grow- 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.         233 

ing  that  the  Upper  House  was  no  part  of  the 
constitution  at  all. 

After  much  angry  brooding  over  the  atrocious 
behavior  of  "these  wretches,"  as  he  calls  them 
in  his  private  letters,  wherein  he  can  vent  his 
spleen  and  vexation  freely,  he  came  to  the  con- 
clusion that  the  Delegates  were  not  merely 
stingy  and  captious,  but  that  they  were  carry- 
ing out  a  deep-laid  scheme  to  undermine  the 
Proprietary  government.  Had  they  squarely 
refused  to  pass  supply-bills,  they  would  have 
lost  popularity  with  their  constituents ;  but  by 
clogging  them  with  such  conditions  as  they 
knew  the  Upper  House  would  have  to  refuse, 
they  hoped  to  throw  the  odium  of  their  rejec- 
tion —  five  were  rejected  in  eighteen  months  — 
on  the  Upper  House  and  the  Governor,  and  in 
England  the  blame  would  be  laid  on  the  Pro- 
prietary government,  which  might  thus  be  over- 
thrown. 

He  unbosomed  himself  freely  on  the  subject, 
not  only  to  the  Proprietary,  but  to  William 
Pitt,  then  Secretary  of  State,  and  to  other 
persons  high  in  authority.  And  yet,  while 
defending  the  Proprietary  government,  with 
some  inconsistency  he  still  harps  on  his  fixed 
idea  of  an  Act  of  Parliament,  and  even  sends 
a  draft  of  such  an  Act.  Yet,  after  all  his 
pains  in  explaining  the  situation,  the  unkind- 


234  MARYLAND: 

est  cut  of  all  came  in  a  dispatch  from  Mr. 
Pitt,  not  rebuking  the  Delegates  for  their  out- 
rageous conduct,  but  blaming  both  the  Houses, 
which  the  Delegates  construed  into  an  admis- 
sion that  they  were  in  the  right. 

It  was  fortunate  for  Maryland  at  this  time 
that  the  tide  of  war  had  drifted  to  the  north- 
ward, where  it  was  evident  that  the  decisive 
struggle  was  to  be.  Fort  Du  Quesne  —  though 
they  did  not  know  it  —  was  held  by  a  bare 
handful,  and  the  frontier  hostilities  were  con- 
fined to  mere  "  scalping  parties,"  —  horrible 
enough,  it  is  true,  but  which  gained  no  military 
advantage. 

The  imbecile  Loudoun  was  superseded  in 
1758  by  Lord  Amherst,  and  command  of  the 
troops  at  the  south  was  given  to  General  Forbes, 
a  good  soldier,  whose  special  part  in  the  triple 
attack  that  was  preparing  was  the  reduction  of 
Fort  Du  Quesne. 

The  Delegates  held  firm  to  their  former  ob- 
structive policy,  and  no  supply-bill  was  passed; 
so  Forbes,  unwilling  to  lose  the  garrison  at 
Fort  Cumberland,  took  it  into  the  King's  pay. 
Nay,  they  went  a  step  farther,  and  declared 
that  the  Governor  had  no  power  to  order  the 
militia  to  march,  except  in  case  of  actual  inva- 
sion, nor  were  they  disposed  to  consider  any- 
thing an  invasion  short  of  an  advance  of  the 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  235 

enemy  to  the  east  of  Fort  Frederick.  Sharpe 
had  to  rely  on  volunteers,  whom  lie  had  no  dif- 
ficulty in  getting,  and  of  good  quality ;  and 
men  were  found  who  would  furnish  supplies, 
and  take  the  precarious  chance  of  repayment 
by  a  future  Assembly.  The  Delegates  were 
more  liberal  to  a  party  of  Cherokees  who  of- 
fered their  services,  and  proved  of  much  value 
as  scouts,  and  also  brought  in  a  number  of 
scalps,  for  which  they  were  paid  at  the  rather 
high  rate  of  X50  per  scalp. 

The  march  on  Fort  Du  Quesne  began  in 
June,  —  not  by  Braddock's  road,  but  by  a  new 
one  which  Forbes  had  constructed  from  Rays- 
town.  An  advanced  party,  under  Major  Grant, 
was  surprised  and  cut  to  pieces,  the  Maryland 
detail  losing  about  half  their  numbers,  and  the 
expedition  seemed  to  be  a  failure,  when  Forbes 
learned  from  deserters  the  actual  weakness  of 
the  garrison,  and  pushed  rapidly  forward,  upon 
which  the  French  abandoned  the  fort,  after  set- 
ting it  on  fire,  and  retreated  down  the  Ohio. 

This  success,  which  relieved  the  whole  Prov- 
ince from  dread,  so  far  affected  the  Assembly 
that  they  appropriated  XI, 500  to  the  Mary- 
land troops  engaged  in  the  expedition ;  but 
there  their  generosity  halted,  nor  would  they 
give  any  help  toward  the  northern  campaign, 
save  on  their  own  impossible  terms. 


236  •  MARYLAND: 

However,  this  went  on  without  their  aid,  and 
the  surrender  of  the  French  forts  on  the  Lakes 
—  Ticonderoga,  Crown  Point,  and  Quebec  — 
decided  the  fate  of  North  America. 

The  attitude  of  the  Delegates  during  this 
long  struggle  has  been  viewed  by  historians  in 
widely  different  lights.  Some  have  discerned 
in  it  nothing  but  selfish  niggardliness  which, 
deaf  to  the  voice  of  humanity,  and  blind  to 
the  growing  danger,  would  have  seen  all  the 
western  settlements  sink  in  blood  and  fire,  and 
the  French  lines  advanced  to  the  Potomac, 
rather  than  loosen  its  purse-strings. 

Others,  again,  give  the  Lower  House  credit 
for  a  far-seeing  statesmanship,  for  a  heroic 
spirit  of  liberty,  and  a  Roman  patriotism  which 
would  place  them  among  the  wisest  and  noblest 
of  mankind,  not  only  above  all  their  contem- 
poraries, but  on  a  loftier  pinnacle  than  Burke 
or  Chatham. 

To  the  present  writer  the  truth  seems  to  lie 
between  these  extremes.  The  Delegates  cer- 
tainly grudged  all  expenditure  of  money,  not 
only  the  extraordinary  expenses  of  war,  but 
the  ordinary  levies  and  disbursements  of  peace. 
Their  petty  and  constant  bickerings  about  trifles 
with  the  Upper  House,  their  narrow  bigotry 
toward  their  Romanist  fellow-citizens,  show  a 
spirit  far  removed  from  magnanimity,  and  many 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  237 

of  their  favorite  ideas,  such  as  the  re- issue  of 
the  bills  of  credit,  prove  that  their  statesman- 
ship, in  many  points,  had  not  passed  the  rudi- 
mentary stage. 

But,  in  their  defence,  it  must  be  said  that  the 
Province  was  not  wealthy,  and  these  expenses 
were  a  heavy  burden.  They  felt  that  the  war 
was  really  England's  war,  on  whatever  side  of 
the  Atlantic  it  was  waged,  and  thought  that 
if  they  furnished  the  men  England  ought  to 
find  the  money.  Nor  can  we  much  blame  their 
constant  jealousy  and  suspicion  of  the  Upper 
House.  They  had  no  cause  to  feel  respect  or 
affection  toward  the  Proprietary  ;  and  as  the 
Upper  House,  far  from  being  an  estate  like 
the  peers  in  England,  was  composed  of  his 
appointees,  bound  by  their  oath  to  protect  his 
interests,  the  Delegates  were  naturally  disposed 
to  see  in  them  only  his  creatures  and  parasites. 
Had  Frederick  had  the  soul  of  Cecilius  or 
Charles,  he  would  have  devoted  a  large  share 
of  his  revenues  to  the  defence-fund,  and  there 
would  have  been  no  talk  of  taxing  his  manors, 
nor  would  the  principle  have  troubled  any  man. 

At  the  same  time,  as  a  fair  plant  may  spring 
from  a  rough  and  unbeautiful  seed,  so  ideas  of 
freedom  began  to  spring  in  men's  minds  from 
the  discussion  of  these  material  questions.  It 
was   not   the   Spanish  Inquisition,  but   Alva's 


238  MARYLAND: 

taxes,  that  roused  the  Netherlands  to  revolt ; 
yet  their  heroic  patriotism  has  justly  won  the 
admiration  of  the  world.  The  men  who  re- 
sisted a  war-tax  because  it  was  burdensome, 
were  the  fathers  of  the  men  who  resisted  a  tea- 
duty  because  it  violated  their  liberties. 

The  long-standing  boundary  dispute  between 
Pennsylvania  and  Maryland  was  settled  in  1760, 
by  an  agreement  between  Lord  Baltimore  and 
Thomas  and  Richard  Penn,  on  the  basis  of  the 
agreement  of  1732.  Commissioners  were  ap- 
pointed on  both  sides,  and  the  surveys  made. 
The  eastern  boundary  was  run  from  a  point 
central  between  Cape  Henlopen  and  Chesa- 
peake Bay,  till  it  touched  the  western  arc  of  a 
circle  of  twelve  miles  radius,  whose  centre  was 
the  centre  of  the  town  of  New  Castle,  and 
thence  due  north  to  a  point  fifteen  miles  south 
of  Philadelphia. 

The  Cape  Henlopen  mentioned  above  was 
not  the  present  cape  so  called,  but  a  spot 
about  twenty-three  miles  farther  south.  What 
machinations  or  falsifications  were  used  to  per- 
suade Baltimore  that  the  cape  referred  to  was 
not  the  one  which  had  borne  that  name,  as 
Herman's  map  shows,  long  before  Penn's  ac- 
quisition of  Delaware,  and  has  borne  it  ever 
since,  —  but  "  False  Cape,"  which  is  no  cape  at 
all,  —  we  cannot  now  see.     The  contrivers  of 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.         239 

such  things  are  usually  too  modest  to  give  their 
modes  of  working  to  the  public.  Frederick 
protested  against  the  fraud  ;  but  Lord  Hard- 
wicke,  who,  though  sitting  as  a  judge  in  equity, 
seems  to  have  considered  his  office  merely  "  min- 
isterial "  wherever  the  Penns  were  concerned, 
decided  that  the  agreement  of  1732  must  be 
carried  out. 

The  northern  boundary  was  also  established, 
in  part.  Charles  Mason  and  Jeremiah  Dixon, 
two  eminent  English  mathematicians,  were  em- 
ployed by  the  Proprietaries  to  determine  all 
those  parts  of  the  boundaries  that  had  not  yet 
been  completed.  They  began  operations  in 
1763,  and,  having  determined  the  starting- 
point,  or  northeastern  angle  of  Maryland,  pro- 
ceeded to  run  the  parallel  westward.  By  1767 
they  had  carried  it  two  hundred  and  forty-four 
miles  from  the  Delaware  River,  when  they 
■were  stopped  from  further  advance  by  the 
Indians.  These  boundaries  were  marked  by 
milestones,  every  fifth  stone  having  the  arms 
of  Baltimore  on  one  side,  and  those  of  the 
Penns  on  the  other ;  and,  where  the  convey- 
ance of  hewn  stones  was  not  practicable,  by 
cairns.  This  line  is  the  famous  Mason  and 
Dixon's  line,  separating  the  Northern  from,  the 
Southern  States. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE   STAMP   ACT   AND   THE    CONGRESS. 

The  treaty  signed  at  Paris,  on  February  10, 
1763,  while  it  gave  Great  Britain  all  North 
America  east  of  the  Mississippi,  yet  left  her 
heavily  burdened  with  debt.  As  this  debt,  in 
England's  eyes,  had  been  largely  incurred  on 
behalf  of  the  colonies,  it  was  but  equitable  that 
they  should  bear  a  portion  of  it  ;  and  as  they 
bad  manifested  a  troublesome  and  insubordi- 
nate temper  throughout  the  war,  and  there 
seemed  to  be  audacious  notions  of  their  rights 
and  liberties  growing  up  among  them,  which 
could  not  be  checked  too  soon,  it  was  as  well 
that  they  should  feel  the  pressure  of  England's 
heavy  hand. 

The  gradual  encroachments  of  England  upon 
the  franchises  of  the  colonies,  and  especially 
upon  those  of  Maryland,  under  the  pretence 
of  the  regulation  of  trade,  have  already  been 
sketched.  Her  policy  of  compelling  the  colonies 
to  deal  with  hei'self  alone,  had  deprived  them  of 
commerce,  and  a  series  of  petty  and  hampering 
restrictions  prevented  or  stifled  the  growth  of 
manufactures.      But  all   this   time,    as   Burke 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  241 

says,  England  "  pursued  trade  and  forgot  rev- 
enue;" and  the  colonists,  despite  occasional  ir- 
ritations, felt  that  the  exactions  to  which  they 
were  subjected,  though  more  oppressive,  did 
not  essentially  differ  from  those  borne  by  Eng- 
lishmen in  the  mother-country.  Like  those, 
they  regulated  their  own  affairs,  taxed  them- 
selves, and  submitted  to  excises  and  restrictions 
that  England's  trade  might  thrive ;  for  as  Eng- 
land was  their  one  great  customer,  England's 
wealth  was  their  profit.  As  Burke  has  finely 
put  it :  "  America  had  the  compensation  of 
your  capital  which  made  her  bear  her  servi- 
tude. She  had  another  compensation,  which 
you  are  now  going  to  take  away  from  hei\  She 
had,  except  the  commercial  restraint,  every 
characteristic  mark  of  a  free  people  in  all  her 
internal  concerns.  She  had  the  image  of  the 
British  Constitution.  She  had  the  substance. 
She  was  taxed  by  her  own  representatives.  She 
chose  most  of  her  own  magistrates.  She  paid 
them  all.  She  had,  in  effect,  the  sole  disposal 
of  her  own  internal  government.  This  whole 
state  of  commercial  servitude  and  civil  liberty, 
taken  together,  is  certainly  not  perfect  free- 
dom ;  but  comparing  it  with  the  ordinary  cir- 
cumstances of  human  nature,  it  was  a  happy 
and  a  liberal  condition." 

But  with  this  policy  of  administering  Amer- 
16 


242  MARYLAND: 

ica  for  England's  benefit  alone,  and  favored  by 
the  patience  with  which  America  acquiesced  in 
this  policy,  there  had  grown  up  in  England  a 
changed  feeling  toward  the  colonists.  They 
were  no  longer  honored  as  heroic  adventurers, 
as  in  Elizabeth's  time,  nor  respected  as  en- 
terprising planters,  as  in  the  time  of  the  first 
James.  Liberty,  the  proud  right  of  self-gov- 
ernment, was  still  the  Englishman's  birthright, 
but  the  Englishman  across  the  Atlantic  was 
an  Englishman  with  a  difference.  The  veriest 
cockney  who  had  never  travelled  out  of  hear- 
ing of  the  chimes  of  his  beloved  Bow,  talked 
of  "our  subjects  in  America;"  and  because  the 
colonists  had  no  representation  in  Parliament, 
it  was  fancied  that  the  crown  might  deal  with 
them  as  it  pleased. 

So  now  the  old  and  wise,  if  selfish,  policy 
was  to  be  abandoned,  and  a  revenue  raised 
from  the  Provinces.  The  Act  of  1764  impos- 
ing port-duties  sounded  the  note  of  the  change 
by  the  statement  in  the  preamble  that  it  "  was 
just  and  necessary  that  a  revenue  should  be 
raised  in  America."  At  first  this  ominous 
word  created  no  alarm  :  the  colonies  were  used 
to  port-duties,  the  objection  raised  was  that 
they  had  not  the  money.  But  now  Grenville 
looked  about  for  a  new  source  of  revenue,  and 
the   one   he  fixed    upon  was   the   stamp  -  duty 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  243 

which  Sharpe  had  suggested.  Now  the  eyes  of 
the  colonies  were  opened,  and  remonstrances 
went  up  to  the  crown,  but  these  were  scorn- 
fully rejected  and  not  even  laid  before  Parlia- 
ment. 

When  the  news  of  the  passage  of  the  Stamp 
Act  (March  22,  1765)  reached  America  the 
whole  country  was  thrown  into  agitation.  The 
Maryland  Assembly  was  not  in  session,  and  the 
Governor,  who  knew  their  temper,  seemed  de- 
termined by  continued  prorogations  to  prevent 
opposition  from  that  quarter. 

This,  however,  did  not  prevent  the  great 
question  of  the  day  from  being  freely  discussed, 
and  the  "  Maryland  Gazette,"  the  only  news- 
paper in  the  Province,  threw  open  its  columns 
to  all  who  had  anything  to  say  about  it.  Ex- 
citement soon  mounted  to  fever  heat,  and  when 
Mr.  Hood,  a  Marylander,  who,  while  in  Eng- 
land, had  been  appointed  stamp-distributor  for 
the  Province,  arrived  at  Annapolis,  he  was  re- 
ceived with  fierce  insult  and  outrage.  He  was 
flogged,  hanged,  and  burned  in  effigy  in  several 
towns,  and  as  this  vicarious  correction  had  no 
effect  upon  him,  his  house  in  Annapolis  was 
torn  down,  upon  which,  in  alarm,  he  fled  to 
New  York.  Sharpe  wrote  to  Lord  Halifax 
saying  that  it  would  be  impossible  to  protect 
Hood  without  a  military  force,  and  that  he  be- 


244  MARYLAND: 

lieved  the  stamps  (whicli  had  not  yet  arrived) 
would  be  burned  if  any  attempt  were  made  to 
land  them. 

Sharpe  also  wrote  to  General  Gage  at  New 
York,  asking  his  protection  for  Hood,  but  it 
was  unavailing.  Associations  called  the  Sons 
of  Liberty  had  been  formed  throughout  the 
colonies,  and  a  party  of  these  seized  the  fugi- 
tive stamp -distributor,  carried  him  before  a 
magistrate,  and  made  him  swear  to  resign  his 
commission,  and  never,  either  directly  or  indi- 
rectly, contribute  to  the  execution  of  the  Stamp 
Act.  When  he  had  done  this,  he  was  consid- 
ered to  have  purged  himself  of  his  contempt, 
and  by  way  of  comfort  was  invited  to  an  enter- 
tainment, but  his  nerves  were  too  much  shaken 
for  festivities.  The  stamps  arrived  soon  after 
on  the  slbop-of-war  Hawke,  but  as  there  was 
no  one  authorised  to  receive  them,  and  as  the 
attempt  to  land  them  would  have  raised  a  riot, 
they  were  never  landed  on  the  soil  of  Mary- 
land, and  were  finally  carried  back  to  England. 

Sharpe  now  called  an  Assembly,  which  met 
in  a  spirit  little  short  of  revolutionary.  In 
several  cases  the  constituencies  had  formally  in- 
structed their  representatives  as  to  the  course 
of  conduct  that  was  expected  of  them.  They 
were  instructed  to  plant  themselves  on  the 
ground  that  the  people  of  Maryland  were  Eng- 


THE  HISTORY   OF  A   PALATINATE.  245 

lishmen  who  had  forfeited  no  jot  of  their  birth- 
right of  freedom,  and  on  the  express  letter  of 
the  charter  exempting  them  and  their  posterity- 
forever  from  all  royal  taxation  and  imposition 
of  every  kind ;  they  were  notified  that  an  en- 
ergetic resistance  to  all  such  invasions  of  lib- 
erty would  be  required  of  them  ;  and  that  there 
might  be  no  misunderstanding  about  the  mat- 
ter, these  instructions,  in  the  character  of  a 
protest,  were  to  be  entered  on  the  journal  of 
the  Lower  House. 

The  first  business,  when  the  Assembly  met, 
was  to  take  into  consideration  a  letter  from  the 
Assembly  of  Massachusetts  proposing  a  meet- 
ing of  committees  from  the  various  colonial 
Assemblies  to  take  into  consideration  the  pres- 
ent state  of  affairs  and  join  in  a  memorial  to 
England.  The  proposition  was  at  once  unani- 
mously approved  by  both  Houses  and  the  Gov- 
ernor.i  Next  a  committee  was  appointed  to 
draw  up  a  set  of  resolutions  declaratory  of  "  the 

1  The  plan  of  a  Congress  of  the  colonies  had  been  broached 
as  early  as  1696  by  William  Penn,  who  in  a  memorial  to 
the  Board  of  Trade  entitled,  A  Briefe  and  Plain  Scheam  how 
the  English  Collonies  in  the  north  part  of  America  .  .  .  may  be 
made  more  usefull  to  the  Crowne,  suggested  an  arrangement 
which  commended  itself  to  his  judgment.  His  plan  was  for 
a  congress  of  two  deputies  from  each  colony  to  meet  at  some 
central  point,  annually  during  war,  biennially  during  peace, 
with  a  royal  commissioner  as  president,  to  adjust  intercolonial 
matters,  allot  quotas,  etc. 


246  MARYLAND: 

constitutioDal  rights  and  privileges  of  the  free- 
men of  the  Province."  On  the  28th  of  Septem- 
ber the  committee  reported  the  following  reso- 
lutions, in  the  nature  of  a  Bill  of  Rights  :  — 

I.  Resolved,  unanimously,  That  the  first  adventur- 
ers and  settlers  of  this  province  of  Maryland  brought 
with  them  and  transmitted  to  their  posterity,  and  all 
other  his  Majesty's  subjects  since  inhabiting  in  this 
province,  all  the  liberties,  privileges,  franchises,  and 
immunities,  that  at  any  time  have  been  held,  enjoyed, 
and  possessed,  by  the  people  of  Great  Britain. 

II.  Resolved,  unanimously,  That  it  was  granted 
by  Magna  Charta,  and  other  the  good  laws  and  stat- 
utes of  England,  and  confirmed  by  the  Petition  and 
Bill  of  Rights,  that  the  subject  should  not  be  com- 
pelled to  contribute  to  any  tax,  tallage,  aid,  or  other 
like  charges  not  set  by  common  consent  of  Parlia- 
ment. 

III.  Resolved,  unanimously,  That  by  royal  char- 
ter, granted  by  his  Majesty,  king  Charles  I.,  the 
eighth  year  of  his  reign  and  in  the  year  of  our  Lord 
one  thousand  six  hundred  thirty  and  two,  to  Cecilius, 
then  Lord  Baltimore,  it  was,  for  the  encouragement 
of  people  to  transport  themselves  and  families  into 
this  province,  amongst  other  things,  covenanted  and 
granted  by  his  said  Majesty  for  himself,  his  heirs, 
and  successors,  as  followeth: 

"  And  we  will  also,  and  of  our  more  special  grace, 
for  us,  our  heirs  and  successors,  we  do  strictly  enjoin, 
constitute,  ordain  and  command,   that  the  province 


THE   HISTORY   OF  A   PALATINATE.  247 

shall  be  of  our  allegiance,  and  that  all  and  singular 
the  subjects  and  liege  people  of  us,  our  heirs  and 
successors,  transported  into  the  said  province,  and 
the  children  of  them,  and  of  such  as  shall  descend 
from  them,  there  already  born,  or  hereafter  to  be 
born,  be,  and  shall  be  denizens  and  lieges  of  us,  our 
heirs,  and  successors,  of  our  kingdom  of  England  and 
Ireland,  and  be  in  all  things  held,  treated,  reputed 
and  esteemed,  as  the  liege  faithful  people  of  us,  our 
heirs,  and  successors,  born  within  our  kingdom  of 
England,  and  likewise  any  lands,  tenements,  reve- 
nues, services,  and  other  hereditaments  whatsoever, 
within  our  kingdom  of  England,  and  other  our  do- 
minions, may  inherit,  or  otherwise  purchase,  receive, 
take,  have,  hold,  buy  and  possess,  and  them  may  oc- 
cupy and  enjoy,  give,  sell,  alien,  and  bequeath,  as 
likewise,  all  liberties,  franchises  and  privileges,  of 
this  our  kingdom  of  England,  freely,  quietly,  and 
peaceably,  have  and  possess,  occupy  and  enjoy,  as 
our  liege  people,  born,  or  to  be  born,  within  our  said 
kingdom  of  England;  without  the  let,  molestation, 
vexation,  trouble,  or  grievance  of  us,  our  heirs  and 
successors,  any  statute,  acts,  ordinance,  or  provision 
to  the  contrary  thereof,  notwithstanding. 

"  And  further  our  pleasure  is,  and  by  these  pres- 
ents, for  us,  our  heirs  and  successors,  we  do  covenant 
and  grant,  to  and  with  the  said  now  Lord  Baltimore, 
his  heirs  and  assigns,  that  we,  our  heirs  and  succes- 
sors, shall  at  no  time  hereafter,  set  or  make,  or  cause 
to  be  set,  any  imposition,  custom,  or  taxation,  rate, 
or  contribution  whatsoever,  in  or  upon  the  dwellers 


248  MARYLAND: 

and  inhabitants  of  the  aforesaid  province,  for  their 
lands,  tenements,  goods  or  chattels,  within  the  said 
province,  or  in  or  upon  any  goods  or  merchandises, 
within  the  said  province,  or  to  be  laden  and  unladen 
within  any  of  the  ports  or  harbors  of  the  said  prov- 
inces :  And  our  pleasure  is,  and  for  us,  our  heirs,  and 
successors,  we  charge  and  command,  that  this  our 
declaration  shall  be  henceforward,  from  time  to  time, 
received  and  allowed  in  all  our  courts,  and  before  all 
the  judges  of  us,  our  heirs  and  successors,  for  a  suffi- 
cient and  lawful  discharge,  payment  and  acquittance : 
commanding  all  and  singular  our  officers  and  minis- 
ters of  us,  our  heirs  and  successors,  and  enjoining 
them  upon  pain  of  our  high  displeasure,  that  they  do 
not  presume,  at  any  time,  to  attempt  any  thing  to 
the  contrary  of  the  premises,  or  that  they  do  in  any 
sort  withstand  the  same  ;  but  that  they  be  at  all  times 
aiding  and  assisting,  as  it  is  fitting,  unto  the  said  now 
Lord  Baltimore,  and  his  heirs,  factors,  and  assigns, 
in  the  full  use  and  fruition  of  tlie  benefit  of  this  our 
charter." 

IV.  Resolved,  That  it  is  the  unanimous  opinion  of 
this  house,  that  the  said  charter  is  declaratory  of  the 
constitutional  rights  and  privileges  of  the  freemen  of 
this  province. 

V.  Resolved,  unanimously,  That  trials  by  juries 
are  the  grand  bulwark  of  liberty,  the  undoubted 
birth-right  of  every  Englishman,  and  consequently 
of  every  British  subject  in  America;  and  that  the 
erecting  other  jurisdictions  for  the  trial  of  matters  of 
fact,  is  unconstitutional,  and  renders  the  subject  in- 
secure in  his  liberty  and  property. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  249 

VI.  Resolved,  that  it  is  the  unanimous  opinion  of 
this  house,  that  it  cannot,  with  any  truth  or  pro- 
priety, be  said,  that  the  freemen  of  this  province  of 
Maryland,  are  represented  in  the  British  Parliament. 

VII.  Resolved,  unanimously,  That  his  Majesty's 
liege  people  of  this  ancient  province  have  always  en- 
joyed the  right  of  being  governed  by  laws  to  which 
they  themselves  have  consented,  in  the  articles  of 
taxes  and  internal  polity ;  and  that  the  same  hath 
never  been  forfeited,  or  any  other  way  yielded  up, 
but  hath  been  constantly  recognized  by  the  king  and 
people  of  Great  Britain. 

VIII.  Resolved,  That  it  is  the  unanimous  opinion 
of  this  house,  that  the  representatives  of  the  freemen 
of  this  province,  in  their  legislative  capacity,  together 
with  the  other  part  of  the  legislature,  have  the  sole 
right  to  lay  taxes  and  impositions  on  the  inhabitants 
of  this  province,  or  their  property  and  effects ;  and 
that  the  laying,  imposing,  levying  or  collecting,  any 
tax  on  or  from  the  inhabitants  of  Maryland,  under 
color  of  any  other  authority,  is  unconstitutional,  and 
a  direct  violation  of  the  rights  of  the  freemen  of  this 
province. 

Having  thus  defined  Maryland's  position,  tbe 
Lower  House  refused  to  entertain  any  other 
business,  and  the  Assembly  was  prorogued  till 
November.  When  they  again  met,  the  dele- 
gates to  the  first  Continental  Congress  came 
before  them  and  reported  their  action,  the 
Declaration  of  Rights,  the  memorial  to  Parlia- 


250  MARYLAND, 

ment,  and  the  address  to  the  crown ;  and  their 
course  was  fully  indorsed  and  themselves 
thanked  for  the  able  and  faithful  discharge  of 
their  duties. 

The  first  of  November,  the  day  on  which  the 
Stamp  Act  was  to  go  into  operation,  came,  and 
there  were  no  stamps  in  the  Province.  But  the 
question  arose,  how  was  business  to  be  carried 
on  if  documents  on  unstamped  paper  had  no 
legal  value?  The  court  of  Frederick  County 
cut  the  knot  by  declaring  that  its  business 
should  be  carried  on  without  stamps,  and  when 
the  clerk  (probably  as  matter  of  form)  refused 
to  comply,  he  was  committed  for  contempt,  but 
released  on  his  submission.  Other  courts  fol- 
lowed the  example,  and  business  went  on  as  if 
the  Stamp  Act  had  no  existence. 

This  action,  which  gave  judicial  sanction  to 
the  popular  wish,  spread  joy  throughout  the 
Province,  which  found  expression  in  various 
ways,  some  of  them  grotesque.  In  Frederick- 
town  a  mock  funeral  of  the  Stamp  Act  was 
held,  at  which  an  effigy  of  the  late  stamp  dis- 
tributor officiated  as  sole  mourner,  in  an  at- 
titude of  abasement  and  degradation,  and  after 
a  burlesque  address,  both  were  buried  amid 
loud  cheers  and  ruffs  of  the  drums. 

The  news  of  the  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act 
was  greeted  throughout  the  colonies  with  an 


THE   HISTORY  OF  A   PALATINATE.  251 

explosion  of  joy  like  that  which  hailed  the  fall 
of  Quebec,  and  with  much  of  the  same  feeling. 
Guns  were  fired,  bonfires  blazed,  and  patriotic 
addresses,  in  the  finest  provincial  rhetoric, 
soared  like  rockets  or  were  sent  flying  over  to 
England.  In  Maryland,  after  the  genial  fash- 
ion of  our  ancestors,  the  feeling  of  elation  found 
its  best  expression  in  banquets,  and  portentous 
quantities  of  punch  were  quaffed  to  the  health 
of  Pitt,  Camden,  Barre,  and  other  advocates  of 
colonial  liberties.  Fervent  professions  of  loy- 
alty were  made;  good  feeling  was  restored,  and 
even  Mr.  Hood,  whom  we  last  saw  wagging  a 
dolorous  head  in  effigy  at  his  own  unhonored 
obsequies,  returned  to  Annapolis,  and  carried 
on  his  legitimate  business,  whatever  it  was,  un- 
molested. 

But  when  all  this  hilarity  was  over,  men  be- 
gan to  think.  Was  the  matter  going  to  end 
here  ?  Would  England  bear  this  sneap  without 
reply,  and  be  content  to  concede  to  violence 
and  defiance  what  she  had  refused  to  the  hum- 
blest petitions  ?  They  now  called  to  mind  that 
at  the  very  moment  of  the  repeal  of  the  Stamp 
Act,  Parliament  had  passed  an  Act  declaring 
"  that  it  was  expedient  to  raise  a  revenue  in 
America." 

In  England  it  was  plainly  seen  that  the  end 
was  not  yet,  and  that  troublous  times  were  in 


252  MARYLAND: 

store  for  the  colonies.  Lord  Baltimore  sent  out 
orders  for  the  sale  of  his  manor  lands,  of  which 
three  or  four  hundred  thousand  acres  were 
thrown  on  the  market. 

In  1767  the  brilliant  but  rash  and  headstrong 
Townshend  thought  he  had  found  the  means  to 
raise  a  revenue  in  America  without  exasperat- 
ing the  Americans,  in  a  set  of  duties  on  tea, 
glass,  paper,  and  painters'  colors.  The  duties 
were  to  be  collected  in  the  colonies  by  a  Board 
of  Customs,  and  the  hateful  "  writs  of  assist- 
ance" were  authorised,  empowering  the  forci- 
ble entry  of  private  houses  and  dwellings  by 
custom  -  house  officers  in  search  of  smuggled 
goods  ;  not  like  a  special  warrant  issued  on  a 
specific  charge  attested  on  oath,  but  general 
and  at  the  pleasure  of  the  officers. 

This  was  worse  than  the  Stamp  Act,  and 
again  the  flame  broke  out.  The  Assembly  of 
Massachusetts  sent  a  circular  letter  to  the  other 
Assemblies,  calling  on  all  to  unite  in  lawful  op- 
position to  this  invasion  of  their  liberties.  Lord 
Hillsborough,  Secretary  of  State,  replied  by  a 
circular  letter  to  the  colonial  governors,  in- 
structing them  to  do  their  best  to  counteract 
the  effect  of  the  Massachusetts  letter  upon  the 
Assemblies.  Sharpe  notified  the  Maryland  As- 
sembly of  his  instructions,  and  exhorted  them 
to  take  no  notice  of  the  letter,  but  "  treat  it 


THE  HISTORY   OF  A   PALATINATE.  253 

with  the  contempt  that  it  deserved."  The  Del- 
egates replied  that  it  was  a  very  alarming  state 
of  things  when  dutiful  and  loyal  addresses  to 
the  throne  were  considered  seditious  and  fac- 
tious documents ;  and  that  they  were  "  not  to 
be  intimidated  by  a  few  sounding  expressions 
from  doing  what  they  thought  was  riglit." 
As  to  the  Massachusetts  letter,  they  said  :  — 

"  What  we  shall  do  upon  this  occasion,  or  whether 
in  consequence  of  that  letter  we  shall  do  anything,  it 
is  not  our  present  business  to  communicate  to  your 
Excellency  ;  but  of  this  be  pleased  to  be  assured, 
that  we  cannot  be  prevailed  on  to  take  no  notice  of, 
or  to  treat  with  the  least  degree  of  contempt,  a  letter 
80  expressive  of  duty  and  loyalty  to  the  Sovereign, 
and  so  replete  with  just  principles  of  liberty  ;  and 
your  Excellency  may  depend  that  whenever  we  ap- 
prehend the  rights  of  the  people  to  be  affected,  we 
shall  not  fail  boldly  to  assert,  and  steadily  to  endeavor 
to  maintain  them." 

They  then  drew  up  a  petition  to  the  King, 
in  language  at  once  manly  and  respectful,  plant- 
ing themselves  on  the  ground  of  their  charter, 
and  on  their  inalienable  rights  as  British  sub- 
jects, concluding  thus :  — 

"  The  jDCople  of  this  Province,  Royal  Sir,  are  not 
in  any  manner,  nor  can  they  ever  possibly  be,  effectu- 
ally represented  in  the  British  Parliament.  While, 
therefore,  your  Majesty's  Commons  of  Great  Britain 


254  MARYLAND: 

continue  to  give  and  grant  the  property  of  the  people 
in  America,  your  faithful  subjects  of  this  and  every 
other  colony  must  be  deprived  of  that  most  invalua- 
ble privilege,  the  power  of  granting  their  own  money, 
and  of  every  opportunity  of  manifesting  by  cheerful 
aids,  their  attachment  to  their  king,  and  zeal  for  his 
service  ;  they  must  be  cut  off  from  all  intercourse 
with  their  sovereign,  and  expect  not  to  hear  of  the 
royal  approbation  ;  they  must  submit  to  the  power 
of  the  Commons  of  Great  Britain  ;  and  precluded 
the  blessings,  shall  scarcely  retain  the  name  of  free- 
dom." 

The  mention  of  "cheerful  aids,"  in  the  mem- 
ory of  events  of  a  few  years  back,  must  have 
sounded  like  fine  irony  ;  but  on  comparing  this 
with  the  tone  of  the  Assembly  of  1689,  which 
grovelled  before  William,  thrust  the  charter 
upon  him,  and  was  anxious  to  lay  the  whole 
Province  under  his  feet,  we  can  see  how  far 
Mai-yland  has  travelled.  The  Lower  House  is 
not  yet  a  House  of  Commons,  as  it  fondly 
thought  itself  a  hundi-ed  years  before,  but  it  is 
well  on  the  way  to  become  one. 

They  returned  an  answer  of  entire  concur- 
rence to  the  Massachusetts  Assembly,  and  were 
straightway  prorogued  by  the  Governor,  who 
was  afraid  to  dissolve  them,  lest  the  new  As- 
sembly should  be  worse  than  the  old. 

The  colonists  had  now  vindicated  their  posi>. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.         255 

tion  in  words,  but  these  would  be  but  empty 
air  if  they  were  not  backed  up  by  acts.  They 
had  frustrated  the  Stamp  Act  by  refusing  to 
use  the  stamps,  and  they  could  baffle  the  Act 
for  Duties  by  refusing  to  import  the  goods. 
Tyranny  might  find  contumacy,  but  it  could 
hardly  find  rebellion,  in  the  mere  abstention 
from  purchase.  Already  some  movements 
looking  to  non-importation  had  been  made ; 
but  now  the  idea  took  definite  shape.  Asso- 
ciations were  formed,  the  members  of  which 
bound  themselves  not  to  import  certain  com- 
modities, nor  purchase  them  if  imported.  The 
agreement  of  the  Marjdand  Associators  dis- 
tinctly states  that  they  are  not  only  moved  by 
a  desire  to  discourage  the  use  of  foreign  luxu- 
ries and  superfluities  in  the  interest  of  frugality, 
but  also  that  they  see  that  the  taxes  imposed 
are  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  the  Constitution, 
and  have  a  tendency  to  deprive  them  of  political 
freedom ;  and  that  therefore  they  will  neither 
import  nor  buy  any  goods  which  have  been  or 
hereafter  shall  be  taxed  for  the  purpose  of  rais- 
ing a  revenue  ;  to  which  they  append  a  long  list 
of  goods  which  they  will  not  buy,  from  jewelry 
and  goldsmith's  ware  to  tarred  rope  and  pot- 
hooks ;  nor  will  they  deal  with  any  person  for 
any  commodity  whatever,  who  shall  offer  such 
goods  for  sale ;   nor  will  those  who  may  have 


256  MARYLAND: 

such  goods  already  on  hand  raise  their  prices. 
They  also  laid  a  restriction  on  the  killing  of 
laRnbs,  which  meant  that  they  were  going  to 
spin  and  weave  their  own  cloth. 

These  Associations  were  spread  throughout 
the  counties,  and  they  did  not  confine  them- 
selves to  words.  They  watched  vigilantly  for 
the  arrival  of  any  forbidden  goods,  and  saw 
that  they  were  reshipped  to  England.  In  at 
least  one  case,  a  vessel  was  sent  back  with  all 
her  cargo,  notwithstanding  the  remonstrances 
of  the  Governor. 

This  Governor,  however,  was  not  the  brave 
and  energetic  Sharpe,  who  had  been  superseded 
by  Robert  Eden,  the  Proprietary's  brother-in- 
law.  The  change  was  probably  fortunate  for 
the  people  of  Maryland.  Eden  was  a  mild  and 
amiable  man,  who  gained  the  good-will  of  the 
people  ;  perhaps  for  the  very  cause  that  he  liad 
too  little  resolution,  or  too  much  prudence  to 
offer  resistance  to  the  growing  popular  feeling. 
Sharpe  was  emphatically  a  man  of  courage  and 
action.  We  have  seen  how  vigorous  were  his 
measures  when  he  commanded  the  resistance  to 
the  French,  and  when  the  disaster  to  Braddock 
seemed  to  be  about  to  let  the  floods  of  destruc- 
tion pour  over  the  Province,  In  his  contention 
with  the  delegates  he  upheld  what  he  believed 
to  be  the  right,  with  a  firmness  which  won  their 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATIXATE.  257 

respect,  though  it  tried  their  temper.  The 
Proprietary  was  quite  incapable  of  appreciating 
the  value  of  such  a  servant,  and  must  often 
have  vexed  his  soul  by  his  grumblings,  his 
greed  for  money,  and  his  utter  indifference  to 
all  else  that  happened  in  the  Province  so  that 
his  revenues  were  duly  collected  and  remitted. 

17 


CHAPTER  XV. 

THE   CONVENTION. 

Robert  Eden,  the  last  Proprietary  Gov- 
ernor, took  his  seat  on  June  5,  1769.  The 
Province  was  still  in  a  ferment.  The  ministry 
had  notified  the  colonies  that  the  King  did  not 
intend  to  lay  any  more  revenue  taxation  upon 
America,  and  that  the  duties  on  glass,  etc., 
would  be  taken  off,  —  not  because  they  were 
unjust  or  odious  to  the  colonies,  but  because, 
being  laid  on  articles  of  British  manufacture, 
they  were  "  contrary  to  the  true  principles  of 
commerce."  But  the  old  lime  was  in  this  sack 
too,  embittering  the  whole  draught ;  the  three- 
pence duty  on  tea  was  left,  and  the  preamble 
reaffirmed  the  expediency  of  raising  a  revenue 
in  the  colonies.  Nay,  as  if  the  ministry  were 
resolved  that  concession  should  not  conciliate, 
there  was  a  movement  to  revive  the  statute  of 
Henry  VIII.,  for  the  punishment  of  treasons 
committed  out  of  the  King's  dominions,  and  so 
to  construe  it  that  persons  charged  with  treason 
in  America  might  be  carried  off  to  England  for 
trial. 

Eden  saw  the  spirit  of  the  people,  and  noti- 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  259 

fied  the  authorities  at  home  that  the  fact  that 
the  cost  of  tea  was  really  reduced  by  the  act 
would  have  no  weight  in  Maryland ;  that,  on 
the  contrary,  if  they  laid  a  six-penny  duty  on 
tea  in  England,  or  refused  to  allow  the  draw- 
back there,  the  colonists  would  be  perfectly 
satisfied. 

But,  with  some  of  the  colonies,  the  repeal  of 
the  duties  had  weight,  and  there  seemed  a  grow- 
ing disposition  to  give  up  the  non-importation 
associations.  A  sarcastic  message  of  condolence 
was  sent  from  Maryland  to  Virginia,  "  upon 
the  untimely  death  of  all  her  brave  sons,  who, 
in  defence  of  the  liberties  of  their  country, 
framed  the  resolutions  at  Williamsburg  in  May 
last."  As  Rhode  Island  was  violating  the 
agreement,  it  was  resolved  to  have  no  further 
dealings  with  her,  and  two  vessels  from  that 
colony  were  sent  back  with  their  cargoes. 

As  colony  after  colony  broke  away,  opinion 
in  Maryland  became  divided  as  to  the  expedi- 
ency of  adhering  to  the  agreement  in  all  its 
rigor.  Unless  there  were  unanimity  of  action 
the  object  sought  would  not  be  gained,  and  the 
faithful  would  suffer  to  no  purpose ;  while  to 
abandon  it,  after  the  removal  of  the  duties, 
was  equivalent  to  an  assertion  that  their  point 
had  been  carried  and  victory  won.  As  for  the 
tea,  on  which  the  duty  had  been  retained,  the 


260  MARYLAND: 

determination  to  refuse  it  was  everywhere  up- 
held. 

The  destruction  of  the  tea  in  Boston  harbor, 
and  its  rejection  in  Philadelphia  and  New 
York,  brought  down  upon  Massachusetts  the 
wrath  of  England,  in  the  shape  of  the  Boston 
Port  Bill  and  the  Regulation  Act.  Maryland 
was  at  once  in  a  flame.  Meetmgs  were  held, 
in  which  common  cause  was  made  with  Massa- 
chusetts, and  it  was  recommended  that  a  gen- 
eral policy  of  non-exportation  and  non-importa- 
tion to  or  from  Great  Britain  and  the  West 
Indies  should  be  maintained  until  the  Port  Bill 
was  rescinded.  Committees  of  Correspondence 
and  other  associations  were  formed  in  the  sev- 
eral counties  to  carry  out  this  policy  in  an 
efiBcient  and  organic  way.  The  people  sub- 
scribed liberally,  poor  as  well  as  rich,  for  the 
relief  of  the  Bostonians,  and  sent  them  ship- 
loads of  provisions. 

But  something  more  than  this  had  to  be 
done  :  the  determination  of  the  people,  the  sov- 
ereign will  of  the  people,  could  not  be  exe- 
cuted by  anything  less  than  a  consistent  organic 
policy  ;  nor  could  such  a  policy  be  carried  out 
by  Committees  of  Correspondence,  to  say  noth- 
ing of  the  Proprietary  government,  which  was 
antagonistic  so  far  as  it  was  not  helpless.  So 
far  as  the  assertion  and  maintenance  of  their 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  261 

liberties  were  concerned,  the  people  determined 
to  take  the  attributes  of  government  into  their 
own  bands,  and  for  this  purpose  a  representa- 
tive and  executive  body  was  required. 

The  citizens  of  Baltimore,  in  town-meeting, 
on  the  31st  of  May,  had  recommended  "a  gen- 
eral congress  of  deputies,  from  all  the  coun- 
ties," to  meet  in  Annapolis.  Here  was  the 
solution  of  the  problem.  The  people  of  the 
counties  chose  delegates,  ninety-two  in  number, 
to  a  convention  which  met  in  Annapolis  on 
June  22d.  They  passed  resolutions  urging 
unity  of  action,  defined  the  attitude  of  the 
Province,  and  the  objects  sought,  and  recom- 
mended that  a  congress  of  deputies  from  all 
the  colonies  should  assemble  at  an  early  date, 
to  which  congress  they  appointed  Matthew 
Tilghraan,  Thomas  Johnson,  Jr.,  Robert  Golds- 
borough,  William  Paca,  and  Samuel  Chase,  as 
the  representatives  of  the  people  of  Maryland. 
This  done,  they  adjourned.  But  from  this 
time  forth  the  Convention  remained  as  the  de- 
positary or  organ  of  the  sovereign  power  of 
the  people  of  Maryland,  so  far  as  that  power 
was  antagonistic  to  Great  Britain.  As  the  an- 
tagonism increased  the  power  and  scope  of  the 
Convention  widened,  until  it  summed  in  itself 
all  power,  and  became  the  government. 

On  October  15,  1774,  the  brig  Peggy  Stew- 


262  MARYLAND: 

art  arrived  at  Annapolis  from  England,  with 
an  assorted  cargo,  in  which  were  seventeen 
packages  of  tea,  consigned  to  James  and  Joseph 
Williams,  merchants  of  that  city.  Anthony- 
Stewart,  the  owner  of  the  brig,  was  one  of  the 
signers  of  the  non-importation  agreement ;  but, 
in  order  to  land  the  rest  of  the  cargo,  he  rashly 
paid  the  duty  on  the  tea,  in  which  he  had  no 
interest.  The  people  were  indignant  at  what 
they  considered  not  only  treason  but  defiance. 
A  guard  was  placed  on  the  vessel,  and  the 
Convention  was  summoned,  to  decide  what 
was  to  be  done.  Stewart  was  now  thoroughly 
frightened,  and  begged  to  be  allowed  to  ap- 
pear before  a  meeting  of  his  fellow-citizens  of 
Annapolis,  and  purge  himself  of  his  contempt. 
A  meeting  was  called,  before  which  the  offend- 
ing parties  appeared,  with  much  contrition, 
offering  to  land  the  tea  and  burn  it  publicly  ; 
but  this  proposal,  though  satisfactory  to  some, 
was  not  deemed  suflBcient  expiation  by  the  ma- 
jority. 

The  Convention  met,  and  Stewart  and  the 
two  Williamses  came  forward  ver}^  humbly  and 
contritely,  and  signed  a  paper  confessing  their 
offence,  with  many  expressions  of  regret  and 
self-condemnation,  and  reiterating  their  offer 
to  destroy  the  tea  in  the  sight  of  all  men. 
As  to  the  Williamses,  this  procedure  seemed 


TUE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE  263 

to  be  satisfactory,  but  it  appeared  to  leave 
Stewart,  who,  as  a  recreant  associator,  was 
specially  obnoxious,  unpunished  ;  so  it  was  pro- 
posed that  the  brig,  too,  should  be  burnt,  but 
this  was  negatived  by  the  majority.  The 
minority,  however,  would  not  be  content ;  and 
as  they  avowed  a  determination  to  collect  a 
force  and  burn  the  vessel,  in  spite  of  all  oppo- 
sition, a  riot  would  probably  have  resulted,  had 
not  Stewart,  who  saw  there  was  no  escape, 
taken  the  wisest  course,  by  offering  to  burn 
his  brig  with  his  own  hands.  His  offer  was 
accepted :  the  brig  was  run  aground  near  Wind- 
mill Point,  and  the  owner,  going  on  board  in  a 
boat,  set  her  on  fire  as  she  stood,  with  all  her 
sails  and  rigging,  the  crowd  watching  till  she 
burned  to  the  water's  edge. 

This  was  the  tea-burning  of  Maryland,  done 
openly,  in  broad  daylight,  with  no  concealment 
or  disguise,  by  men  w^ho  avowed  what  they  did, 
and  stood  ready  to  face  the  consequences. 

What  had  the  Proprietary  government  been 
doing  all  this  time  ?  It,  too,  had  had  its  share 
of  troubles,  over  and  above  the  contest  with 
England.  The  origin  and  nature  of  these 
troubles  must  be  briefly  explained. 

We  have  seen  how  the  tobacco-duty  of  1671, 
amounting  to  two  shillings  on  every  hogshead 
exported,  was  divided, — half  going  to  the  Pro- 


264  MARYLAND: 

prietary,  and  half  to  the  support  of  the  gov- 
ernment and  defence  of  the  Province.  When 
the  government  was  seized  by  the  crown,  this 
moiety  of  the  duty  was  chiefly  used  to  pay  the 
royal  Governor.  After  the  restoration  of  the 
Province  it  seems  to  have  remained  in  abeyance 
until  1733,  when  it  was  again  collected.  In 
1739  the  Assembly  raised  an  objection  to  it,  on 
the  ground  that  it  was  an  unconstitutional  tax, 
levied,  like  Charles's  ship-money,  without  the 
assent  of  the  people ;  but  they  offered  to  pass 
an  Act  securing  the  same  amount  by  law.  To 
this  Act,  Governor  Ogle  refused  his  assent ;  and 
though  the  tax  was  collected,  it  was  not  with- 
out continued  remonstrances  on  the  part  of 
the  Lower  House,  and  was  one  of  the  standing 
grievances. 

In  1749  the  Delegates  refused  a  new  assess- 
ment to  pay  the  salary  of  the  clerk  of  the 
Council,  taking  the  ground  that  they  had  a 
right  to  know  that  the  tobacco-duty  had  been 
legitimately  expended  before  they  called  on  the 
people  for  contributions.  The  Upper  House 
said  that  the  clerk  was  the  servant  of  the  peo- 
ple and  should  be  paid  by  the  people.  Wran- 
glings  on  this  point  continued  for  years ;  and 
in  1765  they  reached  a  dead-lock.  The  usual 
appropriation  bill  was  not  passed,  and  the  hold- 
ers of  claims  against  the  Province  found  them- 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  265 

selves  badly  off ;  so  to  provide  some  remedy  for 
this  financial  trouble,  bills  of  credit  were  is- 
sued, with  provisions,  which  need  not  be  ex- 
plained here,  for  their  redemption  in  1777. 

The  Proprietary,  as  we  have  seen,  was  con- 
tinually tormenting  the  Governor  to  find  lucra- 
tive places  in  Maryland  for  his  connections  and 
friends,  and  grumbling  if  there  was  any  delay 
about  it.  The  fees  and  perquisites  of  these 
favorites  had  grown  to  be  an  intolerable  bur- 
den, and  in  1770  there  was  an  angry  quarrel 
between  the  Houses,  and  the  Assembly  was 
prorogued  without  renewing  the  Act  of  1763, 
fixing  these  fees,  which  expired  the  same  year. 
Governor  Eden,  finding  himself  with  no  law  to 
act  under,  took  the  bold  step  of  restoring  the 
Act  of  1763  by  proclamation,  and  thus  tax- 
ing the  people  by  a  direct  exercise  of  preroga- 
tive. 

The  Assembly,  on  meeting,  determined  to 
bring  the  matter  at  once  to  an  issue,  and  im- 
prisoned a  clerk  who  had  drawn  his  fees  under 
the  proclamation,  upon  which  they  were  pro- 
rogued by  the  Governor. 

Coupled  with  this  was  another  grievance  of 
a  somewhat  similar  character,  but  relating  to 
the  provision  made  for  the  support  of  the 
clergy.  The  old  forty  pounds  of  tobacco  per 
poll,  of  which  we  have   heard  so   much,  had 


266  MARYLAND: 

been  reduced  to  thirty  pounds  in  1763,  by  a 
Supplementary  Act,  which  modified,  but  did 
not  repeal,  the  Act  of  1702.  This  Supple- 
mentary Act  expired  in  1770,  like  the  fee  bill, 
and,  like  it,  without  renewal.  Governor  Eden 
took  the  ground,  in  this  case,  that,  in  default 
of  other  legislation,  the  Act  of  1702  was  still 
in  force,  restoring  the  forty  pounds. 

The  question,  after  long  arguments  in  the 
Assembly,  was  taken  up  by  the  people.  Irri- 
tating as  the  imposition  was,  the  legality  of  the 
Governor's  position  seemed  impregnable,  until 
an  anonymous  writer  in  the  "  Gazette "  took 
a  stand  which  startled  everybody.  This  was 
nothing  less  than  an  assertion  that  the  old  Act 
of  1702  was  itself  void  and  of  no  effect,  inas- 
much as  the  House  which  passed  it,  and  which 
met  on  March  16th,  had  been  elected  under 
writs  running  in  the  name  of  King  William, 
who  had  died  on  March  8th.  With  the  death 
of  the  King,  this  writer  held,  the  authority  con- 
vej^ed  by  writs  running  in  his  name  ceased,  and 
the  House  thus  meeting  without  authority  was 
an  unlawful  House,  and  all  its  acts  null  and 
void. 

Marylanders  had  by  this  time  learned  to  take 
a  high  interest  in  legal  and  constitutional  ques- 
tions ;  and  here  were  questions  on  which  men 
might  argue  till  doomsday,  and  full  of  those 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  267 

nice  subtleties  and  refined  abstractions  in  which 
the  legal  mind  finds  perennial  joy.  The  oppos- 
ing champions  soon  grappled  each  other.  An 
able  article  appeared  in  the  form  of  a  dialogue 
between  two  citizens,  one  of  whom  opposed  the 
ground  taken  by  the  Governor,  and  the  other, 
the  "  Second  Citizen,"  defended  it,  and  was 
made  to  gain  the  victory.  The  article  was 
anonymous,  but  it  was  recognised  as  the  pro- 
duction of  Daniel  Dulany,  the  Provincial  Sec- 
retary, and  a  lawyer  of  eminent  ability.  Mr. 
Charles  Carroll  of  Carrollton  ^  now  came  for- 
ward as  the  "  First  Citizen,"  whose  arguments 
had  not  been  fairly  stated  in  the  former  paper, 
and  answered  his  antagonist. 

Mr.  Carroll  was  fully  a  match  for  the  Secre- 
tary. Sprung  of  a  line  of  gentlemen  who  had 
held  positions  of  honor  and  trust  in  the  Prov- 
ince, despite  their  Romanist  faith,  for  a  hun- 
dred years,  he  had  received  the  best  education 
that  could  then  be  given,  at  the  Jesuit's  Col- 
lege of  St.  Omer,  and  then  at  the  College  of 
Louis  le  Grand  in  Paris.     Next  he  spent  seven 

1  The  popular  idea  that  Mr.  Carroll  added  "  of  Carrollton  " 
to  his  name  at  the  time  of  signing-  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence is  a  legend  of  later  growth.  He  habitually  signed 
in  that  style  to  distinguish  himself  from  his  equally  patriotic 
cousin,  Charles  Carroll,  "  Barrister,"  and  his  signature  with 
this  affix  is  appended  to  the  Declaration  of  the  Associators 
of  1775. 


268  MARYLAND: 

years  in  the  study  of  the  English  law  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Inner  Temple,  and  returned  to  Mary- 
land at  the  age  of  twenty-eight. 

In  this  contest  Mr.  Carroll,  at  least  according 
to  the  popular  opinion,  which  regarded  him  as 
the  champion  of  freedom  against  prerogative, 
gained  an  overwhelming  victory.  The  elec- 
tions of  1773  turned  on  this  question,  and  the 
anti-proclamation  party  was  triumphant.  Great 
rejoicings  were  held,  votes  of  thanks  to  the 
"  First  Citizen  "  were  passed,  and  the  procla- 
mation was  buried  in  a  solemn  mock-funeral,  a 
practical  form  of  sarcasm  which  seems  to  have 
given  great  delight  to  our  ancestors  a  hundred 
years  ago. 

In  1771  Frederick,  the  sixth  Lord  Baltimore, 
died,  leaving  no  legitimate  issue,  and  with  him 
the  title  expired.  He  bequeathed  the  Province 
of  Maryland  to  a  natural  son,  a  minor,  who 
went  by  the  name  of  Henry  Harford.  In  the 
first  Assembly  held  in  the  name  of  the  new 
Proprietary  all  the  proceedings  in  the  matter  of 
the  proclamation  were  declared  to  be  illegal,  un- 
constitutional, and  arbitrary.  Thus  the  wedge 
had  now  been  driven  home,  and  the  rift  was 
daily  widening. 

To  recite  the  acts  of  the  Continental  Con- 
gress, at  which  Maryland  was  duly  represented, 
does  not  come  within  the  purView  of  this  nar- 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  269 

rative.  Local  committees  were  formed  in  the 
counties  to  carry  out  the  measures  that  the 
Congress  recommended,  and  the  Convention 
met,  as  before,  in  Annapolis,  to  whom  the  dep- 
uties to  Congress  reported  their  proceedings. 
They  abeady  began  to  see  in  what  way  events 
were  drifting,  and  they  pledged  the  Province 
to  resist,  to  the  utmost  of  its  power,  any  at- 
tempt to  enforce  the  late  obnoxious  acts  of  Par- 
liament against  any  one  of  the  colonies.  And 
to  give  notice  to  all  men  that  they  did  not 
mean  "  moral  support "  merely,  but  proposed 
to  act  in  the  spirit  of  the  motto  of  the  Prov- 
ince, they  recommended  a  general  organisation 
and  arming  of  the  militia.  Committees  were 
formed  to  see  that  the  resolutions  of  Congress 
and  of  the  Convention  were  observed,  and  to 
keep  up  correspondence  with  the  other  col- 
onies. 

The  spirit  of  revolution  was  now  fully 
aroused,  preparations  for  the  coming  struggle 
were  hastened,  and  war  in  product  met  the 
eye  everywhere.  An  eye-witness,  Mr.  Eddis, 
writes  to  England  in  July,  1775,  "■  Government 
is  now  almost  totally  annihilated,  and  power 
transferred  to  the  multitude.  Speeches  be- 
come dangerous,  letters  are  intercepted,  confi- 
dence betrayed,  and  every  measure  evidently 
tends  to  the  most  fatal  extremities.    The  sword 


270  MARYLAND: 

is  drawn,  and  without  some  providential  change 
of  measures  the  blood  of  thousands  will  be  shed 
in  this  unnatural  contest.  The  inhabitants  of 
this  Province  are  incorporated  under  military- 
regulations  and  apply  the  greater  part  of  their 
time  to  the  different  branches  of  discipline.  In 
Annapolis  there  are  two  complete  companies ; 
in  Baltimore  seven ;  and  in  every  district  of 
this  Province  the  majority  of  the  people  are 
actually  under  arms." 

Eddis  had  said  that  the  government  was  al- 
most annihilated,  but  in  fact  the  Convention 
was  now  really  the  government.  Eden,  who 
was  generally  liked,  notwithstanding  the  proc- 
lamation, was  treated  with  courtesy,  but  was 
politically  impotent.  A  committee  of  the  Con- 
vention waited  on  him  to  request  that  the  arms 
and  ammunition  belonging  to  the  Province 
might  be  distributed  to  the  people ;  but,  will- 
ing to  spare  him  the  necessity  of  yielding  to 
what  be  could  but  regard  as  treason,  they  col- 
ored the  demand  with  the  pretext  that  a  revolt 
of  the  slaves  was  feared.  Eden  remonstrated 
with  them,  but  in  vain,  and  ended  by  furnish- 
ing the  arms  to  the  colonels  of  militia  for  the 
use  of  their  regiments. 

The  battle  of  Bunker  Hill  made  peace  almost 
hopeless,  and  the  activity  in  Maryland  was  in- 
creased.     In    addition    to    her   quota    to    the 


THE  HISTORY   OF  A  PALATINATE.  '2,1\ 

Continental  Army  sbe  sent  to  Boston  two 
companies  of  expert  riflemen  commanded  by 
Michael  Cresap  ^  and  Otbo  Holland  Williams. 
These  riflemen  were  objects  of  great  curiosity 
at  the  North,  not  only  for  their  extraordinary 
dexterity  with  the  rifle,  but  also  for  their  back- 
woods dress  of  hunting-shirts  and  moccasins. 
They  did  excellent  service  as  sharpshooters. 

On  the  26th  of  July,  1775,  the  Convention 
again  assembled,  and  now  formally  took  the 
government  of  the  Province  into  its  hands.  It 
issued  the  following  Declaration  and  Pledge, 
subscribed  first  by  its  own  members,  and  then 
offered  for  subscription  to  the  freemen  of  the 
Province :  — 

"  The  long  premeditated,  and  now  avowed,  design 
of  the  British  government,  to  raise  a  revenue  from 
the  property  of  the  colonists  without  their  consent, 
on  the  gift,  grant,  and  disposition  of  the  Commons  of 
Great  Britain  ;  and  the  arbitrary  and  vindictive  stat- 
utes passed  under  color  of  subduing  a  riot,  to  subdue 
by  military  force  and  by  famine  the  Massachusetts 
Bay  ;   the  unlimited  power  assumed   by  Parliament 

1  Son  of  Thomas  Crcsap  of  border  renown.  Gross  injustice 
has  been  done  this  gallant  man  by  the  charge  of  murder- 
ing the  family  of  the  Indian  Logan,  whose  speech  was  once 
thought  a  fine  specimen  of  Indian  eloquence.  Colonel  Brantz 
Mayor,  in  his  Tah-gah-jute,  has  shown  that  Cresap  was  not 
present  at  that  massacre,  and  that  what  Logan  really  said, 
whatever  it  was,  was  not  a  speech  but  a  verbal  message. 


272  MARYLAND: 

to  alter  the  charter  of  that  Province  and  the  consti- 
tutions of  all  the  colonies,  thereby  destroying  the  es- 
sential securities  of  the  lives,  liberties,  and  properties 
of  the  colonists  ;  the  commencement  of  hostilities  by 
the  ministerial  forces,  and  the  cruel  prosecution  of 
the  war  against  the  people  of  Massachusetts  Bay, 
followed  by  General  Gage's  proclamation,  declaring 
almost  the  whole  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  united  col- 
onies, by  name  or  description,  rebels  and  traitors  ;  are 
sufficient  causes  to  arm  a  free  people  in  defence  of 
their  liberty,  and  justify  resistance,  no  longer  dictated 
by  prudence  merely,  but  by  necessity ;  and  leave  no 
other  alternative  but  base  submission  or  manly  op- 
position to  uncontrollable  tyranny.  The  Congress 
chose  the  latter ;  and  for  the  express  purpose  of  se- 
curing and  defending  the  united  colonies,  and  pre- 
serving them  in  safety  against  all  attempts  to  carry 
the  above  mentioned  acts  into  execution  by  force  of 
arms,  resolved  that  the  said  colonies  be  immediately 
put  into  a  state  of  defence,  and  now  supports,  at  the 
joint  expense,  an  army  to  restrain  the  further  vio- 
lence, and  repel  the  future  attacks  of  a  disappointed 
and  exasperated  enemy. 

"  We  therefore  inhabitants  of  the  Province  of 
Maryland,  firmly  persuaded  that  it  is  necessary  and 
justifiable  to  repel  force  by  force,  do  approve  of  the 
opposition  by  arms  to  the  British  troops  employed  to 
enforce  obedience  to  the  late  acts  and  statutes  of  the 
British  Parliament  for  raising  a  revenue  in  America, 
and  altering  and  changing  the  charter  and  constitu- 
tion of  the  Massachusetts   Bay,  and  for  destroying 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  273 

the  essential  securities  for  the  lives,  liberties,  and 
properties  of  the  subjects  in  the  united  colonies. 
And  we  do  unite  and  associate  as  one  band,  and 
firmly  and  solemnly  engage  and  pledge  ourselves  to 
each  other,  and  to  America,  that  we  will,  to  the  ut- 
most of  our  power,  promote  and  support  the  present 
opposition,  carrying  on  as  well  by  arms  as  by  the  con- 
tinental association  restraining  our  commerce. 

"  And  as  in  these  times  of  public  danger,  and  un- 
til a  reconciliation  with  Great  Britain  on  constitu- 
tional principles  is  effected,  (an  event  we  ardently 
wish  may  soon  take  place)  the  energy  of  government 
may  be  greatly  impaired,  so  that  even  zeal  unre- 
strained may  be  productive  of  anarchy  and  confusion, 
we  do  in  like  manner  unite,  associate,  and  solemnly 
engage,  in  maintenance  of  good  order  and  the  public 
peace,  to  support  the  civil  power  in  the  due  execu- 
tion of  the  laws,  so  far  as  may  be  consistent  with  the 
present  plan  of  opposition  ;  and  to  defend  with  our 
utmost  power  all  persons  from  every  species  of  out- 
rage to  themselves  or  their  property,  and  to  prevent 
any  punishment  from  being  inflicted  on  any  offenders 
other  than  such  as  shall  be  adjudged  by  the  civil 
magistrate,  the  Continental  Congress,  our  Conven- 
tion, Council  of  Safety,  or  Committees  of  Observa- 
tion." 

Thus  the  exercise  of  the  supreme  power, 
paramount  to  all  law,  was  placed  by  the  free- 
men in  the  hands  of  the  Convention,  composed 
of  five  delegates  from  each  county,  elected  an- 

18 


274  MARYLAND: 

nually  by  the  qualified  electors.  It  was  bound 
by  nothing,  not  even  the  resolutions  of  the  Con- 
tinental Congress,  except  so  far  as  it  pleased  to 
assent  to  them.  Its  executive  powers  were  ex- 
ercised through  committees  ;  the  Council  of 
Safety,  of  sixteen  members,  half  from  each 
shore,  sitting  in  permanence,  which  officered 
and  directed  the  militia,  and  administered  the 
finances  ;  and  Committees  of  Observation,  elect- 
ed in  each  county,  whose  business  it  was  to  see 
to  the  enforcement  of  the  resolves  of  the  Con- 
vention, and  to  report  suspicious  persons  or 
any  matters  of  consequence  to  the  Council  of 
Safety.  No  man  was  compelled  to  join  the  as- 
sociation or  to  take  the  pledge ;  but  the  names 
of  recusants  were  reported,  and  an  eye  was 
kept  on  their  conduct.  Violators  of  the  pledge, 
or  persons  guilty  of  "  acts  tending  to  disunite 
the  people  and  to  destroy  the  liberties  of  Amer- 
ica," might  be  banished  by  the  Council  of 
Safetj'^,  or  imprisoned  until  the  Convention  had 
determined  upon  them. 

This  Convention,  then,  was  in  theory  as  des- 
potic as  the  French  Convention  of  1793,  and 
the  difference  of  its  proceedings  is  characteris- 
tic of  a  race  which  instinctively  revolts  at  arbi- 
trary action  and  cannot  endure  unlaw.  All  its 
proceedings  were  marked  by  respect  for  the 
forms  of  law  and  for  natural  equity;  and  in 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.         275 

times  of  the  greatest  excitement  and  danger  it 
kept  its  self-control.  Its  acts  were  sometimes 
summary  and  harsh,  for  revolutions  are  not 
made  with  rose-water  ;  but  they  were  never 
ferocious,  sanguinary,  or  needlessly  vindictive. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 
THE   PROVINCE  BECOMES   A   STATE. 

The  same  moderation  characterised  the  po- 
litical action  of  the  Convention.  The  attach- 
ment of  the  Province  to  England  and  the  Eng- 
lish constitution  was  yet  strong,  and  hopes  of 
reconciliation  were  still  cherished  by  the  truest 
patriots.  Restrictions  Avere  laid  upon  the  depu- 
ties to  the  Congress  of  1776,  forbidding  them, 
except  under  certain  special  circumstances,  to 
assent  to  any  declaration  of  independence,  to 
any  alliance  with  a  foreign  power,  or  to  any 
form  of  confederation  which  involved  a  separa- 
tion from  Great  Britain  ;  and  they  were  strictly 
charged,  while  so  acting  as  to  secure  the  col- 
onies against  invasion  of  their  rights,  to  seek 
redress  by  such  means  as  would  tend  to  rec- 
onciliation. At  the  same  time  they  were  in- 
structed to  cooperate  in  such  military  measures 
as  might  be  necessary  for  the  common  defence. 
The  Convention  also  issued  a  Declaration,  on 
January  18th,  in  which  they  set  forth  to  the 
world  the  causes  which  had  moved  them  to  ac- 
tion and  the  end  which  they  had  in  view. 

As  British  vessels  had  been  for  some  time 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.         277 

making  descents  on  the  plantations  of  Mary- 
land and  Virginia  bordering  on  the  bay,  Con- 
gress armed  and  commissioned  several  small 
vessels  for  their  defence,  and  the  Convention 
also  fitted  out  several  cruisers.  One  of  the 
former  intercepted  a  correspondence  between 
Governor  Eden  and  the  British  ministry,  re- 
lating to  assistance  to  be  furnished  by  Eden  in 
military  operations  presently  to  be  undertaken. 
This  correspondence  was  sent  to  Congress, 
which  requested  Mr.  Purviance,  Chairman  of 
the  Baltimore  Committee  of  Observation,  to  or- 
der Eden's  arrest.  Mr.  Purviance,  in  his  zeal, 
forgot  that  he  had  no  authority  except  under 
the  Convention  and  within  his  own  county,  and 
sent  an  officer  to  make  the  arrest ;  but  the 
Council  of  Safety  interfered  and  forbade  it. 
Congress  passed  a  resolution  that  Eden  should 
be  arrested,  to  which  the  Council  replied  with 
a  polite  intimation  that  Congress  was  over-step- 
ping its  powers,  and  that  they  chose  to  manage 
their  own  affairs  in  their  own  way.  They  ac- 
cepted from  Eden  a  promise  that  he  would 
await  the  meeting  of  the  Convention,  and  left 
him  for  the  time  unmolested. 

The  Convention,  when  it  met,  entirely  ap- 
proved the  proceedings  of  the  Council  of  Safety, 
and  Eden  was  notified  that  he  was  at  full  lib- 
erty to  depart  with  all  his  effects.     Virginia 


278  MARYLAND: 

took  it  upon  herself  to  remonstrate,  upon  which 
she  was  sharply  snubbed  and  told  to  mind  her 
own  business. 

The  Convention  now,  drawing  its  authority 
directly  from  the  people,  was  really  supreme  in 
the  Province  during  the  abeyance  of  the  royal 
authority.  The  Governor,  who,  since  April, 
1774,  had  kept  an  Assembly  from  sitting  by 
repeated  prorogations,  as  the  time  for  which 
the  members  had  been  elected  expired  in  Au- 
gust, 1775,  issued  new  writs  of  election.  But 
the  Convention  met  before  the  writs  were  re- 
turnable, and  on  June  25,  1776,  forbade  the 
election.  Eden  had  left  the  Province  on  board 
a  British  frigate  the  previous  day,  so  that  the 
phantasm  which  was  all  that  was  left  of  the 
Proprietary  government  vanished  utterly,  and 
all  legislative  and  executive  power  devolved 
upon  the  Convention. 

The  Convention  was  perfectly  aware  of  its 
positions  and  responsibilities.  It  was  willing 
to  carry  out,  so  far  as  it  approved  them,  the 
measures  of  the  Continental  Congress ;  but  it 
knew  that  so  far  as  it  came  into  contact  with 
Congress,  namely,  through  its  deputies,  it,  and 
not  Congress,  was  supreme ;  and  it  kept  those 
deputies  fully  instructed  that  no  interference 
with  Maryland's  right  of  self-government  would 
be    tolerated,  which   would  have  been  a  servi- 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.         279 

tude  at  least  as  bad  as  that  whicli  she  was  re- 
sisting. It  acknowledged  but  one  superior  au- 
thority, and  that  was  the  sovereign  power  itself, 
the  source  of  all  authorit}^  the  freemen  of 
Maryland  acting  in  their  political  capacity. 

How  perfectly  the  Convention  understood 
the  situation,  appears  from  its  next  action. 
The  sentiment  in  Congress  was  setting  strongly 
in  favor  of  independence,  and  a  resolution  had 
been  offered  to  that  effect  by  the  deputies  of 
Virginia  ;  but  Maryland  did  not  draw  her  in- 
spiration from  Congress.  Even  some  of  the 
Mai'yland  deputies  were  a  little  hazy  in  their 
views,  and  expressed  a  wish  that  the  Conven- 
tion might  soon  "  give  the  explicit  sense  of  the 
Province  on  this  point,"  adding,  as  an  after- 
thought, that  "  it  would  he  well  if  the  delegates 
to  the  Convention  were  desired  to  endeavor  to 
collect  the  opinion  of  the  people." 

The  attitude  of  the  Convention  at  this  time 
is  well  worth  considering,  as  it  shows  what  kind 
of  men  guided  the  councils  of  Maryland  a  hun- 
dred years  ago.  It  had  originally  been  formed 
to  carry  out  the  non-importation  agreements  in 
conjunction  with  the  other  colonies,  and  to  coop- 
erate with  them  in  resisting  invasion  of  the  lib- 
erties of  the  people,  and  so  became  the  repre- 
sentative of  the  will  of  Maryland  in  its  policy  of 
resistance.     By  the  demise  of  the  Proprietary 


280  MARYLAND: 

government,  it  had  fallen  heir  to  its  powers  of 
internal  control,  and  it  had  the  hearty  support 
of  the  people.  It  was  a  time  of  strong  excite- 
ment ;  a  great  war  was  impending  ;  other  colo- 
nies were  impatient  for  Maryland  to  act ;  the 
feeling  in  the  Province  was  ardent  for  independ- 
ence. Yet  it  never  for  an  instant  forgot  that 
it  had  been  empowered  to  exercise  its  functions 
with  a  view  to  reconciliation  with  Great  Britain, 
and  that  it  had  no  power  to  declare  independ- 
ence —  for  that  it  must  go  to  the  people.  If 
there  is  one  thing  in  Maryland's  honored  his- 
tory to  which  her  sons  can  look  back  with 
especial — perhaps  melancholy  —  pride,  it  is 
the  action  of  the  Convention  of  1776. 

They  summoned  their  deputies  back  from 
Congress,  and  then  laid  the  whole  question  be- 
fore the  freemen.  These,  meeting  in  their  sov- 
ereign political  capacity  in  their  several  coun- 
ties, instructed  their  representatives  in  the 
Convention  to  rescind  the  restrictions  imposed 
upon  the  deputies  in  Congress,  and  to  allow 
them  to  unite  with  those  of  the  other  colonies 
in  declaring  independence  and  forming  a  con- 
federation. 

So  now  the  Convention  could  act.  On  June 
28,  1776,  on  motion  of  Charles  Carroll,  the 
restrictions  were  rescinded,  to  the  great  joy  of 
the  people,  and  new  instructions  transmitted  to 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.         281 

the  deputies,  who  instantly  joined  with  the  rest 
in  the  prepai'ation  of  a  declaration  of  Independ- 
ence. 

While  heartily  in  sympathy  with  the  com- 
mon action,  Maryland  thought  it  due  to  herself 
to  act  for  herself;  and  on  the  3d  of  July  the 
Convention  drew  up  Maryland's  Declaration  of 
Independence,  a  memorable  document,  which 
runs  as  follows  :  — 

"A  DECLARATIOX  OF  THE  DELEGATES  OF  MARY- 
LAND. 

"  To  be  exempted  from  the  Parliamentary  taxa- 
tion, and  to  regulate  their  internal  government  and 
polity,  the  people  of  this  colony  have  ever  consid- 
ered as  their  inherent  and  unalienable  right ;  without 
the  former,  they  can  have  no  property  ;  without  the 
latter,  no  security  for  their  lives  or  liberties. 

"  The  Parliament  of  Great  Britain  has  of  late 
claimed  an  uncontrollable  right  of  binding  these  col- 
onies in  all  cases  whatsoever  ;  to  enforce  an  uncondi- 
tional submission  to  this  claim  the  legislative  and  ex- 
ecutive powers  of  that  State  have  invariably  pursued 
for  these  ten  years  past  a  steadier  system  of  oppres- 
sion, by  passing  many  impolitic,  severe,  and  cruel 
acts  for  raising  a  revenue  from  the  colonists ;  by  de- 
priving them  in  manv  cases  of  the  trial  by  jury  ; 
by  altering  the  chartered  constitution  of  our  colony, 
and  the  entire  stoppage  of  the  trade  of  its  capital ;  by 
cutting  off  all  intercourse  between  the  colonies  ;  by 


282  MARYLAND: 

restraining  them  from  fishing  on  their  own  coasts ;  by 
extending  the  limits  of,  and  erecting  an  arbitrary 
government  in  the  Province  of  Quebec  ;  by  confiscat- 
ing the  25roperty  of  the  colonists  taken  on  the  seas, 
and  compelling  the  crews  of  their  vessels,  under  the 
pain  of  death,  to  act  against  their  native  country  and 
dearest  friends  ;  by  declaring  all  seizures,  detention, 
or  destruction  of  the  persons  or  jDroperty  of  the  col- 
onists, to  be  legal  and  just. 

"  A  war  unjustly  commenced  hath  been  prosecuted 
against  the  united  colonies  with  cruelty,  outrageous 
violence,  and  perfidy ;  slaves,  savages,  and  foreign 
mercenaries  have  been  meanly  hired  to  rob  a  people 
of  their  property,  liberties,  and  lives  ;  a  people  guilty 
of  no  other  crime  than  deeming  the  last  of  no  estima- 
tion without  the  secure  enjoyment  of  the  former ; 
their  humble  and  dutiful  petitions  for  peace,  liberty, 
and  safety  have  been  rejected  with  scorn  ;  secure  of, 
and  relying  on  foreign  aid,  not  on  his  national  forces, 
the  unrelenting  monarch  of  Britain  hath  at  length 
avowed,  by  his  answer  to  the  city  of  London,  his  de- 
termined and  inexorable  resolution  of  reducing  these 
colonies  to  abject  slavery. 

"  Compelled  by  dire  necessity,  either  to  surrender 
our  properties,  liberties,  and  lives  into  the  hands  of  a 
British  King  and  Parliament,  or  to  use  such  means 
as  will  most  probably  secure  to  us  and  our  posterity 
those  invaluable  blessings,  — 

"We,  the  Delegates  of  Maryland,  in  Con- 
vention assembled,  do  declare  that  the  King  of  Great 
Britain  has  violated  his  compact  with  this  people. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  283 

and  they  owe  no  allegiance  to  him.  We  have  there- 
fore thought  it  just  and  necessary  to  empower  our 
deputies  in  congress  to  join  with  a  majority  of  the 
united  colonies  in  declaring  them  free  and  independ- 
ent States,  in  framing  such  further  confederation 
between  them,  in  making  foreign  alliances,  and  ia 
adopting  such  other  measures  as  shall  be  judged  nec- 
essary for  the  preservation  of  their  liberties  ;  provided 
the  sole  and  exclusive  rights  of  regulating  the  inter- 
nal  polity  and  government  of  this  colony  be  reserved 
for  the  people  thereof.  We  have  also  thought  proper 
to  call  a  new  Convention,  for  the  purpose  of  estabr 
lishing  a  government  in  this  colony.  No  ambitious 
views,  no  desire  of  independence,  induced  the  people 
of  Maryland  to  form  an  union  with  the  other  color 
nies.  To  procure  an  exemption  from  parliamentary 
taxation,  and  to  continue  to  the  legislatures  of  these 
colonies  the  sole  and  exclusive  right  of  regulating 
their  internal  polity,  was  our  original  and  only  mo- 
tive. To  maintain  inviolate  our  liberties  and  to 
transmit  them  unimpaired  to  posterity,  was  our  duty 
and  first  wish  ;  our  next,  to  continue  connected  with, 
and  dependent  on,  Great  Britain.  For  the  truth  of 
these  assertions,  we  appeal  to  that  Almighty  Being 
who  is  emphatically  styled  the  Searcher  of  hearts, 
and  from  whose  omniscience  nothing  is  concealed. 
Relying  on  His  divine  protection  and  affiance,  and 
trusting  to  the  justice  of  our  cause,  we  exhort  and 
conjure  every  virtuous  citizen  to  join  cordially  in  the 
defence  of  our  common  rights,  and  in  maintenance  of 
the  freedom  of  this  and  her  sister  colonies." 


284  MARYLAND: 

On  the  evening  of  the  4th  of  July  the  depu- 
ties in  Congress  adopted  the  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence, —  that  is,  they  approved  and  ac- 
cepted the  form  which  had  been  laid  before 
them  by  the  committee.  It  was  not  engi-ossed 
nor  signed  until  the  2d  of  August ;  but  in  the 
mean  time  it  was  printed  and  proclaimed 
throughout  Maryland,  and  everywhere  accepted 
with  enthusiasm. 

Thus  Maryland  liaving  declared,  through  her 
authorised  representatives,  in  the  one  case  as 
an  individual  act,  and  in  the  other  as  a  joint 
action  with  the  other  colonies,  that  she  was 
henceforth  independent  of  Great  Britain,  rose 
up  at  once  a  free  and  sovereign  State.  The 
question  tried  and  determined  by  the  war  was 
whether  she  would  be  able  to  maintain  tbat 
independence. 

One  thing;  more  remained.  The  Convention 
recognised  itself  as  a  merely  provisional  body, 
uniting  in  itself  functions  and  powers  which,  in 
a  free  government,  should  be  kept  distinct.  It 
therefore  drew  up  a  Bill  of  Rights  and  a  Con- 
stitution, provided  for  a  new  election  at  which 
the  Constitution  should  be  submitted  to  the  peo- 
ple and  tlie  officers  of  the  new  government  cho- 
sen, and  then  abdicated  its  position  by  a  simple 
adjournment,  leaving  the  direction  of  affairs  in 
the   interim,  in  the   hands  of  the  Council   of 


THE  HISTORY  OF  A  PALATINATE.  285 

Safety.  The  new  government  began  on  March 
21,  1777,  and  the  Council  of  Safety  transferred 
the  records  and  papers  to  the  appropriate  offi- 
cers, and  then  dissolved  itself. 

The  Proprietary's  individual  rights  were  re- 
spected for  some  time  after  his  government  had 
come  to  an  end.  But  in  1780  the  people  had 
become  exasperated  b}'-  the  continual  plots  and 
conspiracies  of  the  tories,  and  by  the  refusal  of 
the  English  trustees  to  honor  the  drafts  of  the 
State  drawn  against  the  public  funds  in  the 
Bank  of  England,  and  a  law  was  passed  con- 
fiscating the  property  of  all  British  subjects  in 
Maryland,  an  exception  being  made  in  favor  of 
Ex-governor  Sharpe,  who  was  allowed  the  op- 
tion of  selling  his  property  to  Maryland  pui'- 
chasers  within  two  years,  or  of  returning  to  the 
State  within  that  time  and  becoming  a  citizen. 

By  this  law  all  the  landed -domains  of  Henry 
Harford  were  sequestered  to  the  State,  and  the 
quit-rents  being  afterwards  abolished,  not  taken 
by  the  State,  the  original  freeholds  became 
pure  allodial  holdings,  as  in  the  j)rimitive  days 
of  the  race.  Harford  afterwards  received 
<£10,000  from  the  State  in  compromise  of 
litigation  about  the  trust-fund,  and  X90,000 
indemnity  from  the  British  treasury. 

The  history  of  Maryland's  share  in  the  War 
of  Independence  would  be   the  history  of  the 


28G  MARYLAND. 

war  itself,  and  does  not  fall  within  the  scope  of 
this  narrative.  But,  though  the  faithful  ally  of 
her  sister  States,  Maryland  refused  to  enter  into 
any  permanent  bond,  so  long  as  that  sanc- 
tioned pretensions  which  she  considered  un- 
equal and  unjust.  The  other  States  chafed  at 
her  refusal,  but  she  stood  firm ;  and  it  was  not 
until  March  1, 1781,  when  an  equitable  arrange- 
ment with  regard  to  the  western  lands  had  been 
agreed  to,  that  Maryland  entered  the  Confeder- 
ation as  the  thirteenth  and  last  State. 


INDEX. 


Abhorrenct,  oath  of,  186. 

Abundance  of  game,  162 . 

Acadians  in  Maryland,  229. 

Act  of  Gratitude,  122,  132. 

Act  of  Toleration,  67,  79,  88. 

Aix-la-Chapelle,  peace  of,  219. 

Albany,  216. 

Alexander,  Sir  William,  29. 

Algonkin  Indians,  192. 

AUcock,  Thomas,  110. 

Allegiance,  oath  of,  15,  22. 

Alricks,  Governor  of  New  Amstel, 
97,  98. 

Alsop,  George,  "  Character  of  Mary- 
land," 169. 

Altham,  John,  22. 

Altona,  97. 

Amherst,  Lord,  234. 

Amnesty,  88. 

Andros,  Sir  Edmund,  Governor,  187, 
188. 

Annamessex,  112. 

Annapolis  made  the  capital,  187. 

Ann  Arundel,  74,  1.53,  160. 

Anne,  Queen,  198. 

Archihu,  24. 

Aristocracy,  166. 

Ark,  the,  5,  21,  22,  45. 

Asiento  trade,  179. 

Assateague  Indians,  105. 

Assembly,  first,  .35,  38  ;  second,  41  ; 
reorganised,  45,  73 ;  under  Puri- 
tan rule,  79  ;  final  organisation, 
103. 

Associations,  non-importation,  255. 

Associator.^i,  Protestant,  152. 

Avalon,  7-14. 

Bachelors,  tax  on,  230. 
Bacon,  Nathaniel,  132. 
Baltimore,  210. 
Baltimore  county,  214. 
Baltimore,  Lord.     See  Calvert. 
Baptism  of  the  Tayac,  51. 


Battle  in  the  Pocomoke,  34  ;  on  fho 

Severn,  81. 
Beekman,  Governor  of  Altona,  98. 
Benuet,  Richard,  Commissioner,  76; 

Governor  of  Virginia,  76,  80,  87. 
Berkeley,  Sir  William,  Governor  of 

Virginia,  54,  63,  9a,  101,  112. 
Bill  of  Rights,  284. 
Bills  of  credit,  265. 
Blakiston,  Nathaniel,  Governor,  197. 
Blood-ordeal,  178. 
Bohemia  Manor,  100. 
Border  warfare,  214. 
Boston  Port  Bill,  260. 
Boundaries   of    Maryland,  18,    96, 

112,  124,  125,  126,  142,  212,  214, 

215,  238. 
Braddock,  Edward,  General,  224. 
Bray,  Dr.  Thomas,  190,  191. 
Brent,  Giles,  58. 
Brent,  Margaret,  64,  65. 
Brent,  Mary,  64,  177. 
Bricks  made  in  Maryland,  158,  166. 
British  cruisers  in  Chesapeake,  277. 
Burgesses  chosen,  45. 
Bush  River,  110. 

Canister,  Henry,  230. 

Calvert,  Benedict  Leonard  (Lord 
Baltimore),  144,  200,  201,  209. 

Calvert,  Cecilius  (Lord  Baltimore), 
Maryland  granted  to,  18  ;  sends 
out  colonists,  21  ;  dissents  to 
laws,  36  ;  applies  for  removal  of 
Jesuits,  55 ;  attitude  in  the  Civil 
War,  57  ;  character,  69  ;  attitude 
towards  Parliament,  72  ;  "  Rea- 
sons of  State. "  77  ;  attitude  to- 
wards the  Protectorate,  78  ;  or- 
ders Stone  to  resume  the  govern- 
ment, 81  ;  rights  confirmed,  21, 
34,  87  ;  government  restored,  88 ; 
coins  money  for  Maryland,  115; 
dies,  127. 


288 


INDEX. 


Calvert,  Charles  (Lord  Baltimore), 
Governor,  104  ;  visits  New  Amstel, 
119  ;  succeeds  to  title,  127  ;  visits 
New  Castle,  139;  interviews  with 
Penn,  140,  141 ;  deprived  of  gov- 
ernment, 155 ;  withdraws  his 
son's  allowance,  200  ;  dies,  201. 

Calvert,  Charles,  Governor,  209. 

Calvert,  Charles  (Lord  Baltimore), 
succeeds  to  title,  201  ;  Maryland 
restored  to  him,  201  ;  agreement 
with  the  Penns,  213  ;  dies,  217. 

Calvert,  Frederick  (Lord  Balti- 
more), succeeds  to  title,  217  ;  in- 
difference to  Maryland,  257  ;  at- 
tempts to  regain  Avalon,  14 ;  dies, 
268. 

Calvert,  George  ( Lord  Baltimore), 
birth,  4  ;  Secret.try  of  State,  5  ; 
colonises  Avalon,  5  ;  created  Bar- 
on of  Baltimore,  8  ;  visits  Avalon, 

8  ;  letter  to  W'entworth,  9  ;  en- 
gagement with   Preach   cruisers, 

9  ;  visits  Virginia,  15  ;  grant  of 
land  south  of  Virginia,  16  ;  grant 
of  Maryland,  17  ;  dies,  17. 

Calvert,  Leonard,  4. 

Calvert,  Leonard,  Governor,  22  ; 
visits  Pascataways,  24  ;  holds  As- 
sembly, 36  ;  reduces  Kent  Island, 
41 ;  visits  the  Tayac,  51 ;  plans 
Indian  expedition,  54  j  sails  to 
England,  58 ;  returns  to  Mary- 
land, 60  ;  retreats  to  Virginia,  61 ; 
recovers  Maryland,  63  :  dies,  63. 

Calvert,  Philip,  87,  94,  101, 104, 108, 
124. 

Cape  Henlopen,  140,  143,  238. 

Carr,  Sir  Robert,  119. 

Carroll,  Charles,  208,  211. 

Carroll,  Charles,  of  Carrollton,  267. 

Carroll,  Charles,  "  Barrister,'"  267 
note. 

Carroll,  Daniel,  211. 

Catholic  Church,  attitude  toward 
the  Proprietary  government,  56. 

Catholics,  in  first  immigration,  22  ; 
disfranchised,  79  ;  proportion  to 
Protestants,  128,  129 ;  suspicion 
of,  198,  200 ;  severities  against, 
199. 

Cattle,  163. 

Cayugas,  26. 

Cecil  county,  139. 

Cecil,  Sir  Robert,  6. 

Charles  I.  grants  charter  of  Mary- 
land, 17  ;  confirms  charter,  34. 

Charles  II.  grants  Maryland  to  Sir 
VVilliam  Davenant,  73  ;  proclaimed 
by  Greene,  75  ;  proclaimed  King, 


99  ;  grant  to  Duke  of  York,  119 ; 
grant  to  Lord  Ilopton,  125. 
Charter  of  Avalon,  7. 
Charter  of  Marvland,  18,  28  ;  con- 
firmed, 21,  34,"  87. 
Chase,  Samuel,  261. 
Cherokees  in  Maryland  service,  235. 
Chesapeake  Bay,  18,  30,  39,  159. 
Cheseldyn,  Kenelm,  150,  184. 
Chitomachen,  Tayac  of  Pascataway, 

52. 
Choptank  River,  92. 
Church   of  England,  185,  189,  190, 

191. 
Claiborne,  William,  15  ;  claims  Kent 
Island,  28 ;  licen.^es  to  trade,  29  ; 
trading-post  on  Kent  Island,  30 ; 
mutinies  against  Harvey,  33 ; 
commissions  Warren,  33  ;  dispos- 
sessed by  his  partners,  37  ;  prop- 
erty seized  by  partners,  38 ;  buya 
Palmer's  Island,  59  ;  petitions  for 
grant  of  land,  39  ;  obtains  Rich 
Island,  41  ;  Treasurer  of  Virginia, 
60 ;  foments  rebellion  on  Kent 
Island,  60;  cooperates  with  In- 
gle, 61 ;  commissioner  for  reduc- 
tion of  Virginia,  76 ;  Secretary  of 
State,  76 ;  appoints  Fuller,  79  ; 
petitions  Charles  II.,  129. 
Cloberry  and  Company,  29,  30,  37, 

38. 
Cockatrice,  the,  33. 
Colonies,  kinds  of,  1. 
Commercial  colonies,  3. 
Commissioners  for  Plantations,  33, 

34,  39,  87, 115. 
Committees  of  Observation.  274. 
Conditions  of  plantations,  36.  55. 
Confederation,  Maryland  enters  the, 

486. 
Confiscation    of    British    property, 

285. 
Congress  of  colonies  proposed,  245. 
Constitution  framed,  284. 
Continental  Congress,  249,  269,  276- 

278. 
Convention  of  Marvland,  261,  269, 

271,  273,  274,  276-278, 
Coode,  John,  57  note,  132,  151,  187, 

189 
Cook,  Eben,   his   "  Sot- Weed    Fac 

tor,"  172. 
Copley,  Sir  Lionel,  Governor,  155, 

184,  187. 
Cornwaleys,  Thomas,  34,  49,  58,  59 

62. 
Council,  composition  of,  103, 
Council  of  Safety,  274,  284,  285. 
Courts-baron,  37, 177. 


INDEX. 


289 


Courts-leet,  37, 177. 
Cresap,  Michael,  271. 
Cresap,  Thomas,  182,  215. 
Crescentia,  17. 

Cromwell,  Oliver,  77,  78,  80,  87,  99. 
Crossland,  Alicia,  4. 
Crown  Point,  2.36. 
Crown  requisitions,  193,  194,  198. 
Cruiaer.s,  British,  in  the  bay,  277. 
Cumberland,   Fort,  222,    22o,    231, 
234. 

Dagwortby,  Captain,  222,  226,  228, 
231. 

Dandy,  John,  53. 

Dankers,  Jasper,  134. 

Davenaat,  Sir  William,  73. 

Declaration  of  Convention,  276. 

Declaration  of  Freemen,  271. 

Declaration  of  Independence,  281. 

Declaration  of  Rights,  205. 

Defoe,  Daniel,  his  niece,  181. 

De  la  Rade,  Admiral,  10. 

Delaware,  18,  126,  141. 

Delaware  River,  96,  97,  126, 1-36, 1-38, 
14'),  239. 

Deodauds,  177. 

D'Uiuoyossa,  Alexander,  111. 

Dinwiddle,  Robert,  Governor  of  A^ir- 
giuia,  220. 

Disputes  between  Houses  of  Assem- 
bly, 121,26.5. 

Dove,  the,  21,  22,  45. 

Dulany,  Daniel,  267. 

Dutch  on  the  Delaware,  9G,  111,  113, 
118, 119. 

Dutch  West  India  Company,  111. 

Eastern  shore,  92,  106. 

Eddis"s  letters,  269. 

Eden,  Robert,  Governor,  256,   258, 

265,  277,  278. 
Elk  River,  92, 106. 
Emperor  of  Pascataway,  24,  51,  106, 

107. 
English  colonisation  in  America,  1. 
England's  commercial  policy,  240  ; 

revenue  policv,  242,  258. 
Epidemics,  182,197. 
Established  Church,   1^3,  185,  189, 

190, 191. 
Evelin,  George,  37,  40. 
Executive,  103. 

Fairfax,  Lord,  125. 
Family  ties,  50,  167. 
Farms,  167. 
Fees  of  officers,  265. 
Fendall,   Josias,   Governor,   84,  87, 
90-93, 101, 102, 132. 

19 


"First  Citizen,''  the,  267. 

Five  Nations,  the,  192. 

Fleete,  Henrv,  25,  -32. 

Forbes,  Joseph,  2o4,  235. 

Fort  Casimir,  97. 

Fort  Christina,  97. 

Fort  Cumberland,  222,  226,231,  234 

Fort  Dn  Quesne,  220,  226,  234,  235. 

Fort  Frederick,  231. 

"  Forty  per  poll,"'  the,  185,  189,196, 

265. 
Fox,  George,  196. 
Frederick  county  ravaged,  225-227, 

228. 
Freedom,  personal,  161. 
French  attack  Avalon,  10. 
B'rench  cruisers  in  the   Chesapeake, 

198. 
Frizell,  Susan,  176. 
Fuller,  William,  79,  81,  87,  90,  101. 

General  pardon  refused,  195. 
George  1.,  201. 

Gerrard,  Thomas,  70,  94,  102 . 
Goldsborough,  Robert,  261. 
Great  Wighcocomoco  River,  34. 
Greene,  Thomas,  Governor,  64,  75. 
Grievances  of  Lower  House,  121. 
Gunpowder  River,  110. 

Hirford,  Henry,  Proprietary,  268, 
285. 

Hart,  John,  Governor,  200,  208. 

Harvey,  Sir  John,  Governor  of  Vir- 
ginia, 29,  32,  3-3,  .38. 

Henlopen,  Cape,  140,  143,  238. 

Henry  VIII.,  statute  of,  258. 

Herman,  Augustine,  98,  99,  100, 
134. 

Herman,  Ephraim,  134,  136. 

Hill,  Edward,  62. 

Hillsborough,  Lord,  252. 

Holt,  Chief  Justice,  154 

Hood,  Zichariah,  243,  250,  251. 

Horekill,  126. 

Hospitality,  162,  168. 

Houses,  165. 

Howard,  Lord,  Governor  of  Virginia, 
146. 

Hundreds,  48. 

Independence,  Maryland's  declara- 
tion of,  281  ;  declaration  by  Con- 
gress, 284. 

Indians.  See  Pascataway?,  Susque- 
hannoughs,  Nanticokes,  Senecas, 
Cayuga?,  Oneida?,  Wicomeses, 
Yaocomicos,  Patuxents,  Miugoes, 
Iroquois,  Assateagues. 

Indian  murders,  54,  110,  130,  160 ; 


290 


INDEX. 


ravages,  225,  226,  228 ;  troubles, 
53,  54. 

Indians,  peace  with,  106 ;  relations 
with,  104,  treaties  with,  108,  110. 

Infanticide,  case  of,  175- 

Ingle,  Richard, treasonable  speeches, 
58 ;  escapes,  59 ;  surprises  St. 
Mary's,  61  ;  plunders  the  prov- 
ince, 61 ;  prosecuted  for  robbery, 
62. 

Irish  papists,  duty  on,  199. 

Iron  manufacture,  216. 

Iroquois  Indians,  26. 

Jacobites,  181, 186,  208. 

James,  Duke  of  York,  119  ;  King, 
142,  147. 

Jesuits,  grants  of  land  to,  55  ;  Bal- 
timore's attitude  toward,  55,  56 ; 
surrender  their  lands,  56. 

Johnson,  Kichard,  198. 

Johnson,  Thomas,  261. 

Joppa,  210. 

Joseph,  President,  149. 

Judiciary,  103. 

Kecoughtan,  SO  note,  38. 

Kent  Island,  28,  30-32,  39^1,  50, 

60,  63,  91. 
Kidd,  William,  198. 
King  George's  War,  216, 
King  William  School,  189. 
Kirke,  Sir  David,  12,  13. 
Kirke,  Lewis,  13- 
Krygler,  Martin,  98. 

Labadists,  133. 

Laud,  gifts  of  to  missionaries,  55. 56. 

Laws,  initiated  by  Assembly,  103. 

Laws  of  Province  revised,  204. 

Legislative,  103. 

Lewes  River,  97. 

Lewger,  John,  43,  51,  56. 

Lewis,  William,  70. 

Liquors,  164. 

Lloyd,  Edward,  200. 

London,  Bishop  of,  191. 

Loudon,  Lord,  231,  232,  234. 

Lower  House,  composition  of,  103. 

Maltravers,  Henry,  Lord,  116. 

Manokin,  112. 

Manorial  courts,  37,  176,  177. 

Manors,  37. 

Markham,  William,  139. 

Maryland,  boundaries,  18,  96,  124, 
12.5,  137,  212,  215 ;  charter,  18,  69, 
157  ;  coinage,  115,  116 ;  named, 
17. 

Mason  and  Dixon's  line,  239. 


JIassachusetts  letter,  245,  252,  263, 

Matlicws,  Thomas,  33,  87. 

Mattapany,  151. 

Mildness  of  Maryland  justice,  175. 

Militia,  reorganised,  91  ;  armed,  270 

Mills,  163. 

Mingoes,  105. 

Minority  representation,  46. 

Mint,  act  for,  116. 

Missionaries,  51,  52,  55,  56,  62,  82. 

Mode  of  living,  157. 

Mortmain,  55,  56. 

Nanticokes,  53,  58,  105. 
Naturali.sation  of  aliens,  91 . 
Navigation  Acts,  118,  128  note,  183, 

193. 
Negroes,  36,  179,  199,  216. 
New  Amstel,  97,  11. 
New  Castle,  97,  126,  138-140,  144, 

213,  238. 
Newfoundland,  5. 
New  Sweden,  97. 
Nicholett,  Charles,  120. 
Nicholson,   Francis,   187,  189,  195, 

197. 
Nicolls,  Richard,  119. 
Nonconformists,   in  Maryland,  74, 

76,  128  note,  129. 
Nonimportation    associations,  255, 

259. 
Northern  boundary,   18,   137,   212, 

215. 

Oath  of  abhorrency,  186. 
Oath  of  allegiance,  50. 
Oath  of  fidelity,  50,  88. 
Oath  of  supremacy,  15. 
Oblivion,  Act  of,  74. 
Observation,  committees  of,  274. 
Ogle,   Samuel,  Governor,  209,  215, 

216,  264. 
Ohio  Company,  220. 
Oneidas,  105. 
Organisation  of  government,  35,  41, 

45. 
Oysters,  164. 

Paca,  William,  261. 

Palatinate  dominion,  18. 

"Palatines,-'  181,214. 

Palmer's  Island,  39,  41. 

Paper  currency,  223. 

Parliament    reduces    Virginia    and 

Maryland,  76. 
Pascatawavs,   24,   51,   54,    104-106, 

108,  110,"  123. 
Patapsco  River,  91  note,  104,  lift 

181. 
Patuxent  River,  51,  91,  104,  181. 


INDEX. 


291 


Peggy  Stewart,  the,  261. 

Penn,  Thomas  and  Richard,  238. 

Penn,  William,   137,  138,  140,  141, 

212. 
Pennsylvania,  charter  of,  138. 
People  of  Maryland,  157. 
Petition  of  Delegates  to  the  King, 

253. 
Philadelphia,  238. 
Pirates,  193. 
Plans  of  colonisation,  1. 
Plantations.  .37,  50, 
Pledge  of   Freemen   of    Maryland, 

273. 
Pocomoke  River,  naval  fight  in,  34  ; 

settlement  on,  92. 
Political  liberty  in  Maryland,  45. 
Population  of  Maryland,  216. 
Port-duties,  Act  establishing,  242. 
Potomac  River,  17,  18,  23,  25, 125, 

130,  132. 
Pott,  John,  Governor  of  Virginia, 

15. 
Prescott,  Edward,  84. 
Priests  and  ministers  not  eligible  to 

Assembly,  57. 
Privy  Council,  115,  142. 
Proclamation    of    Governor    Eden, 

265. 
Proprietary  governments,  4. 
Protestant  Associators,  152. 
Protestants  in  first  immigration,  22. 
Providence,  74  ;  battle  at,  81. 
Proxies,  41. 

Puritans  in  Maryland,  75. 
Puritan  toleration,  79. 
Purlivant,  Richard,  49. 
Purviance,  Samuel,  277. 

Quakers,  92,  93, 135,  193. 
Quebec,  233. 

Rangers,  182,  225. 
Rappahannock  River,  125,  146. 
Redemptioners,  180. 
Religious  differences,  70. 
Resolutions  of  Lower  House,  205. 
Revolution  in  Maryland,  151. 
Rights,  Bill  of,  284. 
Roman  Catholics  disfranchised,  79. 
Rousby,  Christopher,  145. 

St.  Clair,  Sir  John,  224,  225. 
St.  Clemenfs,  23. 
St.  Clement's  Manor,  64. 
St.  Gabriel's  Manor.  64,  177. 
St.  George's  hundred,  48. 
St.  George's  River,  1.59. 
St.  Helen,  the,  .3.3. 
St.  Margaret,  the,  34. 


St.  Mary's,  25,  61, 1.58, 159  note. 

Scalps,  bounty  on,  230,  235. 

Scarborough,  Edmund,  112, 124. 

Seal  of  Maryland,  66. 

"  Second  Citizen,"  the,  267. 

Senecas,  26,  105. 

Servants,  22,  3-5,  48,  158. 

Seven  Mountains,  91. 

Severn  River,  settlement  on,  75 ;  bat- 
tle on,  81. 

Seymour,  John,  Governor,  198,  201. 

Sharpe,  Horatio,  Governor,  221  ; 
troubles  v.itU  Assembly,  222  ;  pro- 
poses stamp-tax,  223  ;  provides  for 
defence,  226  ;  defends  the  Catho- 
lics, 2'29  ;  proposes  a  poll-tax,  232  ; 
superseded,  256  ;  property  ex- 
cepted from  confiscation,  285. 

Shirley,  Governor  of  Massachusetts, 
231. 

Slavery,  negro,  179. 

Sluvter,  Peter,  134,  136. 

Smith,  Thomas,  41,  43. 

Smuggling,  118,  128. 

Socage  tenure,  19  note. 

Sons  of  Liberty,  244. 

South  River  ( Delaware),  97,  98. 

Spanish  colonisation  in  America,  1. 

Spesutia  Island,  108. 

Stamp  Act,  243,  250. 

Statutes  of  England,  204,  205. 

Stewart,  Anthony,  26. 

Stone,  U'illiam,  Governor,  66,  73, 
77,  79,  81,  82. 

Stuyvesant,  Peter,  Governor  of  New 
Netherlands,  98. 

Supremacy,  oath  of,  15. 

Susquehanna  River,  147,  182. 

Susquehannoughs,  25,  26,30,  53,  55, 
58,  104-106,  108,  130. 

Susquehannough  chiefs,  murder  of, 
131. 

Susquehannough  fort,  109,  137. 

Swedes  on  the  Delaware,  97,  113. 

Sympson,  Paul,  165. 

Talbot  countv,  196. 

Talbot,  Sir  William,  144. 

Tayac  of  Pascataway,  24,  106,  107  j 

baptised,  41. 
Tea-burning,  263. 
Tea-duty,  252,  258. 
Thurston,  Thomas,  92,  93. 
Ticonderoga,  2.36. 
Tilghman,  Matthew,  261. 
Tobacco-duty,  263. 
Tobacco,  export  of,  217. 
Tobacco,  over-production    of,  114, 

117, 161. 


292 


INDEX. 


Toleration,  45,  67,  70,  79,  88, 129, 

185. 
Towns,  160,  210. 
I'reaty  of  Paris,  240. 
Trumau,  Thomas,  130,  131. 

Upland,  139,  140. 

Upper  House,  composition  of,  103. 

Utie,  Colonel  Nathaniel,  91,  94,  98, 

102. 
Utrecht,  treaty  of,  179. 

Vaughan,  Sir  William,  5. 
Virginia   Company,  5 ;    patent    re- 
voked, 3. 
Virginia's  animosity  to  Maryland, 

26,  27,  33,  86. 

Wahucasso,  106,  108. 
Waldron,  Resolved,  93,  99. 
Warren,  Ratcliffe,  a3. 
Washington,  George,  220,  228. 
Washington,  John,  83,  130. 
Watson's  Island,  39. 
Watkins'  Point,  112,  124,  140,  141. 
Wentworth,  Sir  Thomas,  9. 


West  River,  196. 

Wheat,  export  of,  217. 

Whitboume,  Captain  Richard,  "  Re- 
lation of  the  New-found- land,"  6. 

White,  Father  Andrew,  23,  25,  62. 

Wicomeses,  lUo. 

Wild  ducks,  1G2,  164. 

William  and  Mary,  149  -,  recognised, 
184. 

William  III.,  184,  194,  266  ;  usurps 
the  government  of  Maryland,  155. 

Williams,  Otho  Holland,  271. 

Wills  Creek,  222. 

Wilmington,  97. 

Winston's  Island,  30. 

Witchcraft,  83. 

Writs  of  assistance,  252. 

Writs  of  summons,  41,  45. 

Wroth,  Sir  Robert,  5. 

Wroth,  Sir  Thomas,  4. 

Wynne,  Alice,  4. 

Taocomicos,  25. 
Yeo,  Rev.  John,  129. 

Zwaanendal,  massacre  at,  31,  97. 


Slmertcan  Commotttoealttjs. 

EDITED    BY 

HORACE  E.  SCUDDER. 


A  seiies  of  volumes  narrating  the  history  of  sudh 
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NOW  READY. 

Virginia.  A  History  of  the  People.  By  John  Esten 
Cooke,  author  of  "  The  Virginia  Comedians," 
"Life  of  Stonewall  Jackson,"  "Life  of  General 
Robert  E.  Lee,"  etc. 

Oregon.  The  Struggle  for  Possession,  By  Vv'illian 
Barrows,  D.  D. 

ffaryiand.  By  William  Hand  Browne,  Associate 
of  Johns  Hopkins  University. 

Kentucky.  By  Nathaniel  Southgate  Shaler,  S.  D., 
Professor  of  Paleontology,  Harvard  University,  re- 
cently Director  of  the  Kentucky  State  Survey. 

r-fichigan.     By  Hon.  T.  M.  Cooley,  LL.  D. 

Kansas.  By  Leverett  W.  Spring,  lately  Professor 
of  English  Literature  in  the  University  of  Kansas. 

California.  By  Josiah  Rovce,  Assistant  Professor  of 
Philosophy  in  Harvard  University. 

New  York.  By  Hon.  Ellis  H.  Roberts,  LL.  D.,  2  vols. 

Connecticut.  By  Alexander  Johnston,  LL.  D.,  au- 
thor of  a  "  Handbook  of  American  Politics,"  late 
Professor  of  Jurisprudence  and  Political  Economy 
in  the  College  of  New  Jersey. 

Missouri.  By  Lucien  Carr,  M.  A.,  Assistant  Curator 
of  the  Peabody  Museum  of  Archaeology. 

Indiana.  A  Redemption  from  Slavery.  By  J.  P.  Dunn, 
Jr.,  author  of  "  Massacres  of  the  Mountains." 

Ohio.  First- Fruits  of  the  Ordinance  of  1787.  By 
Hon.  RuFus  King. 

IN  PREPARATION. 

New  Jersey.  By  Austin  Scott,  Ph.  D.,  Professor  of 
History,  etc.,  in  Rutgers  College. 

Peniisylvania.  By  Hon.  Wayne  MacVeagh,  late  At- 
torney-General of  the  United  States. 

lilinois.      By  E.  G.  Mason. 

Other  volumes  to  be  announced  hereafter.     Each 

volume,  with  Map,  i6mo>gilt  top,  $1.25. 


PRESS    NOTICES. 


"VIRGINIA." 

Mr.  Cooke  has  made  a  fascinating  volume  —  one  which  it  wiH 
be  very  difficult  to  surpass  either  in  method  or  interest.  .  .  .  True 
historic  insight  ai:)pears  through  all  these  pages,  and  an  earnest 
desire  to  do  all  parties  and  religions  perfect  justice.  The  story 
of  the  settlement  of  Virginia  is  told  in  full.  ...  It  is  made  as 
interesting  as  a  romance.  —  The  Critic  (New  York). 

No  more  acceptable  writer  could  have  been  selected  to  tell  the 
story  of  Virginia's  history.  —  Educational  yournal  of  Virginia 
(Richmond,  Va.). 

"  OREGON." 

The  long  and  interesting  story  of  the  struggle  of  five  nations 
for  the  possession  of  Oregon  is  told  in  the  graphic  and  reliable 
narrative  of  William  Barrows.  ...  A  more  fascinating  record 
has  seldom  been  written.  .  .  .  Careful  research  and  pictorial  skill 
of  narrative  commend  this  book  of  antecedent  history  to  all  in- 
terested in  the  rapid  march  and  wonderful  development  of  our 
American  civilization  upon  the  Pacific  coast. — Sprijigfield  Re^ 
ftiblican. 

There  is  so  much  that  is  new  and  informing  embodiea  in  this 
little  volume  that  we  commend  it  with  enthusiasm.  It  is  written 
with  great  ability.  — Magazine  of  Atnericaji  History  (New  York). 

"  MARYLAND." 

With  great  care  and  labor  he  has  sought  out  and  studied  origi 
nal  documents.  By  the  aid  of  these  he  is  able  to  give  his  work  a 
value  and  interest  that  would  have  been  impossible  had  he  fol- 
lowed slavishly  the  commonly  accepted  authorities  on  his  subject. 
His  investigation  in  regard  to  toleration  in  Maryland  is  particu- 
larly noticeable.  —  A^ew  York  Evening  Post. 

A  substantial  contribution  to  the  history  of  America.  —  il/b^ 
Wie  of  American  History. 

«  KENTUCKY." 

Professor  Shaler  has  made  use  of  much  valuable  existing  ma- 
terial, and  by  a  patient,  discriminating,  and  judicious  choice  has 
given  us  a  complete  and  impartial  record  of  the  various  stages 


thruugli  which  this  State  has  passed  from  its  first  settlement  te 
the  present  time.  No  one  will  read  this  story  of  the  building  of 
one  of  the  great  commonwealths  of  this  Union  without  feelings  of 
deep  interest,  and  that  the  author  has  done  his  work  well  and  im- 
partially will  be  the  general  verdict.  —  Christian  at  Work  (New 
York). 

A  capital  example  of  what  a  short  State  history  should  be.  -^ 
Hartford  Courant. 

"  KANSAS." 

In  all  respects  one  of  the  very  best  of  the  series.  .  .  .  His  work 
exhibits  diligent  research,  discrimination  in  the  selection  of  ma- 
terials, and  skill  in  combining  his  chosen  stuff  into  a  narration 
that  has  unity,  and  order,  and  lucidity.  It  is  an  excellent  presen- 
tation of  the  important  aspects  and  vital  principles  of  the  Kansas 
struggle.  —  Hartford  Courant. 

"MICHIGAN." 
An  ably  written  and  charmingly  interesting  volume.  .  .  .  For 
variety  of  incident,  for  transitions  in  experience,  for  importance 
of  events,  and  for  brilliancy  and  ability  in  the  service  of  the  lead- 
ing actors,  the  history  of  Michigan  offers  rare  attractions ;  and 
the  writer  of  it  has  brought  to  his  task  the  most  excellent  gifts 
and  powers  as  a  vigorous,  impartial,  and  thoroughly  accomplished 
historian.  —  Christian  Register  (Boston). 

"CALIFORNIA." 

Mr.  Royce  has  made  an  admirable  study.  He  has  established 
his  view  and  fortified  his  position  with  a  wealth  of  illustration 
from  incident  and  reminiscence.  The  story  is  made  altogether 
entertaining.  ...  Of  the  country  and  its  productions,  of  pioneer 
life  and  character,  of  social  and  political  questions,  of  business 
and  industrial  enterprises,  he  has  given  us  full  and  intelligent  ac- 
counts. —  Boston  Transcript, 

It  is  the  most  truthful  and  graphic  description  that  has  been 
written  of  this  wonderful  history  which  has  from  time  to  time 
been  written  in  scraps  and  sketches.  —  Chicago  Inter-Ocean. 

HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  &  CO.,    Publishers, 
Boston  and  New  York. 


amertcau   g^tatesmeiu 


A  Series  of   Biographies  of  Men  famous  in  the 

Political  History  of  the  United  States.     Edited  by 

John  T.   Morse,  Jr.     Each  volume,  i6mo, 

gilt  top,  $1.25;  half  morocco,  $2.50. 

JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS.     By  John  T.  Morse,  Jr. 
ALEXANDER  HAMILTON.  By  Henry  Cabot  Lodge. 
JOHN  C.  CALHOUN.     By  Dr.  H.  Von  Hoist. 
ANDREW  JACKSON.     By  W.  G.  Sumner. 
JOHN  RANDOLPH.     By  Henry  Adams. 
JAMES  MONROE.     By  D.  C.  Gil  man. 
THOMAS  JEFFERSON.     By  John  T.  Morse,  Jr. 
DANIEL   WEBSTER.     By  Henry  Cabot  Lodge. 
ALBERT  GALEA  TIN.     By  John  Austin  Stevens. 
JAMES  MADISON.     By  Sydney  Howard  Gay. 
JOHN  ADAMS.     By  John  T.  Morse,  Jr. 
JOHN  MARSHALL.     By  Allan  B.  Magruder. 
SAMUEL  ADAMS.     By  James  K.  Hosmer. 
THOMAS  H.  BENTON.     By  Theodore  Roosevelt. 
HENRY  CLA  Y.     By  Carl  Schurz.     2  vols. 
PATRICK  HENRY.     By  Moses  Coit  Tyler. 
GOUVERNEUR  MORRIS.     By  Theodore  Roosevelt. 
MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.     By  Edward M.  Shepard. 
GEORGE  WASHINGTON.     By  Henry  Cabot  Lodge. 

2  vols. 
BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN.    By  John  T.  Morse,  Jr. 
JOHN  J  A  Y.     By  George  Pellew. 

(^In  Preparation.') 
LEWIS  CASS.     By  Andrew  C.  McLaughlin. 
Others  to  be  announced  hereafter. 


CRITICAL  NOTICES. 


yOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS,  '^hat  Mr.  Morse's  con- 
-^  ^  elusions  will  in  the  main 

be  those  of  posterity  we  have  very  little  doubt,  and  he  has  set  an 
admirable  example  to  his  coadjutors  in  respect  of  interesting 
narrative,  just  proportion,  and  judicial  candor. — A^ew  York 
Evening  Post. 

TIAMILTON.  '^^^  biography  of  Mr.  I.odge  is  calm  and 
dignified  throughout.  He  has  the  virtue 
—  rare  indeed  among  biographers  —  of  impartiality,  lie  has 
done  his  work  with  conscientious  care,  and  the  biography  of 
Hamilton  is  a  book  which  cannot  have  too  many  readers.  It  is 
more  than  a  biography  ;  it  is  a  study  in  the  science  of  govern- 
ment. —  St.  Paid  Pioneer-Pi-ess. 

CALHOUN  Nothing  can  exceed  the  skill  with  which  the 
political  career  of  the  great  South  Carolinian 
is  portrayed  in  these  pages.  The  work  is  superior  to  any  other 
number  of  the  series  thus  far,  and  we  do  not  think  it  can  be  sur- 
passed by  any  of  those  that  are  to  come.  The  whole  discussion 
in  relation  to  Calhoun's  position  is  eminently  philosophical  and 
just.  —  The  Dial  (Chicago). 

'JACKSON  Professor  Sumner  has  ...  all  in  all,  made 
•^  '      the  justest  long  estimate  of  Jackson  that  has 

had  itself  put  between  the  covers  of  a  book.  —  New  York 
Times. 

RANDOLPH  ^^^  book  has  been  to  me  intensely  inter- 
esting. .  .  It  is  rich  in  new  facts  and  side 
lights,  and  is  worthy  of  its  place  in  the  already  brilliant  series 
of  monographs  on  American  Statesmen.  —  Prof.  Moses  Coit 
Tyler. 

MQJVPQT7  Ii^  clearness  of  style,  and  in  all  points  of  liter- 
ary workmanship,  from  cover  to  cover,  the 
volume  is  well-nigh  perfect.  There  are  also  a  calmness  of  judg- 
ment, a  correctness  of  taste,  and  an  absence  of  partisanship 
which  are  too  frequently  wanting  in  biographies,  and  especially 
in  political  biographies. —  American  Literary  Churchman  (Bal- 
timore). 

'^LLFFERSON  '^'^^  book  is  exceedingly  interesting  and 
'^  '      readable.     The  attention  of  the  reader  is 

strongly  seized  at  once,  and  he  is  carried  along  in  spite  of  him- 
self, sometimes  protesting,  sometimes  doubting,  yet  unable  to 
lay  the  book  down.  —  Chicago  Standard. 

WEBSTER  ■'-*■  ^^^'^  ^^  "c^Tid,  by  students  of  history ;  it  will 
be  invaluable  as  a  work  of  reference ;  it 
will  be  an  authority  as  regards  matters  of  fact  and  criticism ;  it 
hits  the  keynote  of  Webster's  durable  and  ever-growing  fame; 
it  is  adequate,  calm,  impartial ;  it  is  admirable.  —  Philadelphia 
Press. 


GALLATIN  It  is  one  of  the  most  carefully  prepared  of 
these  very  valuable  volumes,  .  .  .  abound- 
ing in  information  not  so  readily  accessible  as  is  that  pertaining 
to  men  more  often  treated  by  the  biographer.  .  .  .  The  whole 
work  covers  a  ground  which  the  political  student  cannot  afford 
to  neglect. — Boston  Correspondent  Hartford  Cottrant. 

AfJ Jl/'^QPJ'      The  execution  of  the  work  deserves  the  high- 
est praise.     It  is  very  readable,  in  a  bright 
and  vigorous  style,  and  is  marked  by  unity  and  consecutiveness 
of  plan.  —  Tke  N'ation  (New  York). 

JOHN  ADAMS.     ^  g°°<i  f^""^  "^  ^^'^'■^7  ''"''\:  ■  ■  ^j 
-^  covers    the    ground    thoroughly,   and 

gives  just  the  sort  of  simple  and  succinct  account  that  is  wanted. 

—  Evening  Post  (New  York). 

MARSHALL       Well  done,  with  simplicity,  clearness,  pre- 
cision, and   judgment,  and   in   a  spirit   of 
moderation  and  equity.     A  valuable  addition   to  the  series.  — 
New  York  Tribune. 

SAMUEL  ADAMS.  Thoroughly  appreciative  and  sym- 
pathetic, yet  fair  and  critical  .  .  . 
This  biography  is  a  piece  of  good  work — a  clear  and  simple 
presentation  of  a  noble  man  and  pure  patriot ;  it  is  written  in  a 
spirit  of  candor  and  humanity. —  Worcester  Spy. 

_BEIVTOJV  ^"^  interesting  addition  to  our  political  liter- 
ature, and  will  be  of  great  service  if  it  spread 
an  admiration  for  that  austere  public  morality  which  was  one  of 
the  marked  characteristics  of  its  chief  figure.  —  The  Epoch 
(New  York). 

CJ^/l  Y.  W^  ^^^'^  ''"'  ^^^^  ''^^  °f  Henry  Clay  a  biography  of 
one  of  the  most  distinguished  of  American  states- 
men, and  a  political  history  of  the  United  States  for  the  first 
half  of  the  nineteenth  century.  In  each  of  these  important  and 
difficult  undertakings,  Mr.  Schurzhas  been  eminently  successful. 
Indeed,  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that,  for  the  period  covered, 
we  have  no  other  book  which  equals  or  begins  to  equal  this  life 
of  Henry  Clay  as  an  introduction  to  the  study  of  American  pol- 
itics.—  Political  Science  Quarterly  (New  York). 

ffENR  Y.  Professor  Tyler  has  not  only  made  one  of  the 
best  and  most  readable  of  American  biographies  ; 
he  may  fairly  be  said  to  have  reconstructed  the  hfe  of  Patrick 
Henry,  and  to  have  vindicated  the  memory  of  that  great  man 
from  the  unappreciative  and  injurious  estimate  which  has  been 
placed  upon  it.  —  New  York  Evening  Post. 

MORRIS  ^^^'  Roosevelt  has  produced  an  animated  and 
intensely  interesting  biographical  volume.  .  .  . 
Mr.  Roosevelt  never  loses  sight  of  the  picturesque  background 
of  politics,  war -governments,  and  diplomacy.  —  Magazine  of 
Afnerican  History  (New  York). 


VAN  BUREN  ^°  more  generous,  appreciative,  or  just 
biogra|)by,  and  no  more  interesting  or 
philoso])hical  piece  of  political  history  has  appeared  in  this  valu- 
able series  .  .  .  than  this  absorbing  book.  .  .  .  To  give  any  ad- 
equate idea  of  the  personal  interest  of  the  book,  or  its  intimate 
bearing  on  nearly  the  whole  course  of  our  political  history  would 
be  equivalent  to  quoting  the  larger  part  of  it. — Brooklyii  Eagle. 

WASHINGTOIV  ^'^'^'  Lodge  has  written  an  admirable 
biography,  and  one  which  cannot  but 
confirm  the  American  people  in  the  prevailing  estimate  concern- 
ing the  Father  of  his  Country ;  but  its  deepest  and  most  impor- 
tant significance  appears  to  us  to  consist  in  its  testimony  to  the 
exaltation  and  the  uniqueness  of  a  character  whose  like  comes 
seldom  to  the  world,  and  only  in  periods  of  great  stress  and  cri- 
sis. —  New  York  Tribune. 

FRAIVKLIN  ^^  ^^^  managed  to  condense  the  whole 
mass  of  matter  gleaned  from  all  sources 
into  his  volume  without  losing  in  a  single  sentence  the  freedom 
or  lightness  of  his  style  or  giving  his  book  in  any  part  the 
crowded  look  of  an  epitome.  He  has  plenty  of  time  and  plenty 
of  room  for  all  he  wishes  to  say,  and  says  it  in  the  very  best  and 
most  interesting  manner.  —  The  Independent  (New  York). 


*j(t*  For  sale  by  all  Booksellers.     Sent,  post-paid,  on  receipt  oj 
price  by  the  Publishers, 

HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN   AND   COMPANY, 
4  Park  St.,  Boston;  ii  East  17TH  St.,  New  York. 


2071 


5 


